Legacies
by MMMAJ
Summary: Mewtwo has passed out of this world, but he has left many strong legacies and a new adventure crosses through the dimensions once more. Pokemon:Zelda:Golden Sun
1. Prologue: Ares

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

**Prologue: Ares**

/Accessing file Datahistory79964.tri  
/....  
/....  
/File opened  
/Contents: Recorded History of Project 79964, Codenamed "Ares"  
/Begin File:

Project initiated 10/13/2078, Issued as a priority command from Team Rocket Headquarters.

Existing samples of DNA leftover from Project 63340, Codenamed Mewtwo, are to undergo further genetic manipulation. New DNA yielded from these manipulations will be used to create a new specimen in this project, Codenamed Ares. These further genetic modifications outlined below:

1: Further amplifications to specimen's latent psionic abilities.  
2: Increased body mass, physical strength and stamina  
3: Decreased Intelligence  
4: Amplifications to specimen's violent and destructive nature

Furthermore, specimen should undergo extensive mental conditioning during formative years in order to teach it to control its violent nature and to unleash it only in proper situations. These conditionings should also intrinsically teach loyalty to the leader and servitude to all of Team Rocket. These mental exercises will be implemented as the specimen matures inside the cloning chamber via direct neural link ups.

Should the emergency arise that the specimen becomes violent while inside the cloning chamber, special neural inhibitors will be placed in the fiber of the glass to prevent the psionic energies from penetrating it, and shatter proofing the tube will be necessary as well. Tranquilizers should be applied to the specimen as per standard procedure should this situation arise.

The specimen's brain functions should be monitored at all times, and should the specimen show at any time the intent to attack and destroy all it sees, total termination is authorized. Operators of the project are to maintain several copies of the specimen's genetic code should the need to terminate arise in such a fashion.

Funding from Team Rocket HQ has been directly approved by Fernando Galicia, and will be wired to CloneSymantics Incorporated via private banks in two days.

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First Specimen to be created reaches physical maturity on 8/24/2099

Scientist's Log:

All mental monitoring had shown specimen's mind to be calm the day before the awakening procedures are to be initiated, but an hour before it was to be allowed to gain consciousness, it showed a violent spike of brain activity in the frontal lobe. The psionic disruptors in the glass tank were shorted and there were several explosions within the lab. We were forced to initiate termination protocols and the specimen was injected with a lethal dose of cyanide in order to stop the psychic attacks.

Damage Reports:

Three other growing tanks were damaged during the emergency, and several neural simulators were destroyed by the psychic attacks. Funds wired two days later from Team Rocket HQ to replace damaged and destroyed equipment.

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Second Specimen dies in adolescent growth phase on 2/16/2113

Scientist's Log:

The specimen was maturing at a normal rate when suddenly one morning we came to the lab and found it dead in its tank. According to our monitoring equipment, it had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and died at 3:00 AM that morning. Cause of the hemorrhage was undetermined.

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Third Specimen reaches physical maturity on 10/31/2134

Full Report of Incident:

Upon receiving multiple distress calls from the CloneSymantics Laboratory on the side of Mt. Moon, several Team Rocket units arrived at the location to find a scene on unimaginable destruction. All the scientists were found dead in the smoldering ruins of the lab, but a several video records of the incident and computer logs were recovered. The videos showed the scientists awakening the specimen and greeting it, and for several minutes it ignored them, examining the lab around it. And then when the scientists mentioned Fernando and Team Rocket, the specimen erupted into a fit of rage and the recording became static. The computer logs corroborated the videos, stating that the awakening procedures had been successful, and ten minutes after the awakening a large psionic disturbance caused massive errors in the system. It is obvious what has happened, the specimen has followed in Mewtwo's footsteps.

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Further developments in Project 79964 pending.

/End File


	2. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 1

**Legacies  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Well, it's finally here! Again, I'm going to stick with the chunk system much like I did with Crossing of the Paths, with each chunk averaging 10-12 pages. There will be four different points of view you'll be reading this from, and I'll be introducing you to the first two in this chunk. The chapter naming system has been based around this alternating point of view system. I hope to make Legacies just as long as, if not longer than Crossing of the Paths. That means I've got another 280 pages of writing ahead of me with this story, and school's right around the corner. So sit back, enjoy, and be sympathetic with my poor writing speed. I hope you like it!

**_Part I-Two Descendants___**

**Chapter I-A1**

A young teenaged girl walked swiftly down a path through dense forest. Heavy rain seeped down through the canopy and lazily splattered her. The simple dirt path was speckled by the heavy, sparse drops that fell from the leaves above, and the girl scowled and walked as quickly as she could short of running. Her cumbersomely large backpack weighed heavily on her and her Trainer's belt seemed to constrict uncomfortably around her waist. Her long black hair was scraggly and filled with rats as if she hadn't combed or brushed it in days, and her jeans were covered in stains and patches that indicated many years of use. She grumbled incoherently as the path twisted and turned deeper into the forest.

Her name was Ashley, and she had been traveling the world as a Pokemon trainer for years now. Having beaten the elite four easily, she found new purpose in seeking and capturing legendary Pokemon. She was now on the hunt for one of the three Legendary Dog Pokemon; Entei. Her travels had been long and hard so far, Entei was an extraordinarily fast runner and one of, if not the hardest Pokemon to track. She was following his trail through a deep forest, the tracks were still relatively fresh in the sandy dirt of the path. But as Ashley continued and more rain fell from the trees, the tracks began to deteriorate. The rainwater soaked her hair and she growled at the shortsightedness of her selling her umbrella to buy a new pair of shoes. She looked down at them and as the rain slowly soaked down into the rest of her, they no longer looked as cool as they had in the store.

Turning a corner, the canopy overhead gave way to a hole in the leaves and branches. Ashley was drenched by the unblocked rainfall and she muttered a curseword as she leapt forward back under the canopy. She also saw that the tracks stopped at the pool of water under the clearing. The spattered dirt path ahead of her was absolutely pristine.

"Just my luck." Ashley mumbled. She bent down to look into the muddy pool. As she stared dejectedly at the muddy water, Ashley's wandering eye suddenly caught something in the periphery of her vision. There was a narrow path that forked away from the main trail and into the dense brush. She looked down this path and noticed that the tracks had turned down this route and disappeared into the thickets. Ashley sighed with relief and stood back up. Besides Entei's tracks, this fork looked like it hadn't been traveled in years. Grass was growing in it and the forest was intruding on it in many places. It looked dark as night in there, the light of the sun could not pass through the thick foliage. It looked a lot drier as well, the rain was having the same problem as the sunlight had, the flora was like a thick mesh that only air could pass through.

Ashley smiled at hey spontaneous change of luck. She guessed that Entei had stumbled into this column of rain, and being a fire Pokemon, decided to look for a more sheltered trail or maybe even a place to hide until the rain stops. She hoped for the latter as she pushed her way into the overgrown side path. Thorns from a plant intruding on the path snagged her jeans and branches whipped her in the face, but Ashley moved quickly and determinedly like a bloodhound on a trail. The path seemed to twist and turn randomly, almost looping in on itself but never quite making it. Ashley lost her sense of direction but knew it wouldn't be too hard to retrace her steps back along the path after catching Entei. She was too optimistic and determined to even consider the possibility of not succeeding in catching Entei.

As Ashley turned one final corner the trail ended abruptly in front of a small cave in a large rock face. Entei's tracks, although partially obscured by the overgrown plant life, were clearly seen heading into the cave. There were no sets of tracks coming back out of the cave, so it was obvious that Entei was still inside. At this point Ashley didn't care about the dangers of entering an unexplored cave alone, her ambition blinded her and she pulled out her flashlight and entered. The cave walls were uniformly drab and mud colored, there were hardly any formations that a natural cave should have had. It looked more like a tunnel that had been bored into the rock face. As Ashley walked deeper into the cave, the noise of the rain on the leaves faded away behind her in the distance. Her flashlight was a like a knife in the inky blackness, and a part of Ashley felt unnerved. She knew that something was not right about this cave, the floor was uniformly flat and there were no stalagmites or stalactites. But her mind was too occupied by the prospect of finally capturing the Pokemon she had spent her last three months tracking relentlessly.

Abruptly, the uniformly straight cave suddenly turned sharply to the right. Ashley shone her light forward to see that the turn was completely square, there were ninety degree angles in the walls where the turn was, and that finally brought her full attention to the fact that the cave was not natural. She began to entertain the idea of turning back and camping out at the mouth of the cave to catch Entei on the way out. She was almost ready to turn back when something distinct caught her ears. A deep, noble bark echoed down from the cave ahead of her, a cry that was easily recognizable as Entei's. Her mind jumped back into ambition mode and she sprinted forward with new drive.

A new sight met Ashley's eyes around another corner. The cave passage opened up into a large room that seemed to be almost spherical in shape except for the unnaturally flat floor. There were five different passages forking out from the rounded walls, each going in a slightly different direction. Ashley's mind howled in frustration. She knew that this was probably the end of her luck. No matter which passage she chose to take, it was likely Entei was in a different one. While she was exploring one, Entei would be able to escape out of the cave behind her unnoticed. Not only that, but it was now likely that she would probably get herself lost down here and die a slow death of dehydration. She had not seen a speck of water in the cave at any time, and she doubted that her luck would grant her any if she were to get lost either. She sighed in agonized frustration, yanking on her long black hair and sliding to the ground. She sat there, shining her flashlight on the floor of the cave, trying to see if she could see any tracks. But the floor was solid stone and there was no possible way for her to track Entei any further.

Ashley decided it would probably be a good idea to camp out here in the junction so that she could catch Entei on his way out. She twiddled her fingers in the partial darkness and hummed tunelessly, thinking how nice a good slice of pizza would have tasted just then. She idly fingered her flashlight, examining all the seams in the cheap plastic frame. And then her eyes caught sight of the battery power indicator and she panicked. According to the charge indicator, there was only enough power left in the batteries for two more hours, and then the light would give out. She sighed and stood up, deciding to move to the mouth of the cave and camp out there. She knew she would be possibly exposed to the elements again, but better to get frostbite than to be lost forever in a cave without a light. She picked up her bag and looked one last time down the five tunnels.

"You're a rival to be respected Entei." Ashley said to the tunnels, now knowing why no other trainers had ever caught Entei. "You are masterful in elusion and I salute you for it. But the hunt will be over soon. You can't stay in these catacombs forever, and I'll be waiting for you when you come out."

As if one Ashley's words, a sudden light flickered very faintly in the distances of the second tunnel from her right. It was a mellow, orange glow like that from a Fire Pokemon's fire, and Ashley's mind locked onto it like a steel trap. She immediately dashed down that tunnel, smirking and wondering if she had indeed managed to get Entei to reveal his hiding spot.

But Ashley didn't find Entei at the end of the tunnel, she found something that shocked and frightened her. At the end of the tunnel, the stone of the floor suddenly transitioned into a smooth, polished steel floor. The walls made the same transition as well, and in the ceiling there was a small recessed fixture that held a smeared and stained orange bulb. As Ashley looked up at it, the bulb flickered again, producing that same orange glow she had seen. The tunnel dead ended with a solid steel wall that had what appeared to be an outline of a door in it. Ashley was too confused and shocked to do anything but stand and stare for a moment. Breaking this, Ashley took a step forward, and suddenly the door sputtered to life. As if activated by some sort of pressure sensors in the floor, the door made an attempt to slide open. It emitted a sickening grinding sound and opened halfway, then stopped with the sound of metal screeching against metal.

Ashley wasn't sure what compelled her to, but she slowly squeezed herself through the half opened door and entered a new room. The room was fairly large, and as she scanned it through the darkness with her flashlight it told her its story. Laboratory equipment was scattered willy-nilly everywhere. Shelves and racks were covered in chemical beakers, most of which were empty or broken. There were several large computer consoles lining the walls. Five man sized glass tanks stood against the left wall, each empty and one broken. There was rust everywhere, although not a sign of moisture, and the steel floor was littered with broken glass and other unrecognizable debris. Ashley lifted her flashlight to cast the beam against the ceiling of the center of the room and it revealed something that caused her to lose all of the breath in her body. Hanging from the ceiling was a large glass tube, more than large enough to fit a full grown man, and there was something inhabiting it that Ashley found beyond description. Her flashlight revealed a large, egg-like head with two stubby horns, a pair of closed eyes and a tiny mouth and nose. There were lines of brilliant gold on its forehead in a swirling pattern. She saw its neck was remarkably skinny, almost unhealthily so, and that it had some sort of second neck that connected with its back. It had some sort of natural chest plate and a lower body that was bulb shaped and larger than its torso. A long, meaty tail emerged from its rear quarters and its legs were seemingly knobby and deformed with hips like tulip bulbs. All in all it gave the impression of being a fearsome, frightening monster. It simply hung in the tube, suspended in a dark liquid with wires attached to it everywhere.

Ashley fumbled backwards, trying to find the door which she had inadvertently drifted away from. She slid along the rusty steel wall, not taking her eyes or her flashlight beam off of the creature in the tank above her head. As she slid sideways along the wall like this, she didn't see the random curved piece of steel that was about to trip her. Her foot caught it and she fell sideways, clawing at the wall for something to grab onto. Her hand caught some sort of square protrusion and her fingers inadvertently flipped a small switch sticking out of it. Several things happened next; showers of sparks suddenly rained down from the ceiling in numerous places as electricity rushed into faulty or partially broken light bulbs. Many bulbs were simply burned out and gave no reaction at all. A scant few of the recessed lights flickered on, giving patchy, orange light to only a few sections of the room. Ashley stumbled onto her feet again and her head swiveled around to see if anything would jump out at her. She then stared right back up pat the creature in the tank. A small orange light now illuminated the liquid in the tank that it was suspended in, and Ashley could see it more clearly now. It was extremely large, almost seven feet tall, and its arms were long and spindly. It was in the fetal position, curled up into a ball with wires sticking out everywhere. A metallic helmet was attacked to its gold lined head with one large bundle of wires coming out. Every single one of the wires led up into the ceiling.

Ashley jumped suddenly when a sharp beeping sound came from across the room. She looked over to see a large computer screen had flickered to life and that the computer was rebooting. She walked over to it, carefully keeping a safe distance from the creature in the tank. She looked at the ancient computer in awe. It was using extremely old technology, a solid physical screen that projected light onto its surface via a cathode ray tube. It was a dinosaur compared to the modern day holo screens she was so used to. She watched as lines of code flicked past on the screen, activation protocols and boot up sequences. Ashley knew that its very operating system must have been at least sixty years old. It ran a set of self diagnostics before reverting to an idle screen. The screen showed a few sets of file folders and a small set of numbers in the bottom left corner of the screen. They were counting down to something, and whatever it was that they were counting down for, it was about to happen. It read seven minutes and 23 seconds and counting, and Ashley wondered whether it was a good idea to stick around to see what it was that the computer was counting down to. She looked over at the files and saw that there were four of them, entitled "Raw Genetic Database", "Experimentation log", "Computer Self maintenance files", and "Journal Entries".

Ashley reached out and touched the "Raw Genetic Database" file on the screen with her finger. When nothing happened, she sighed with frustration and wondered how to access it. She looked down at computer's control panel and there was a small plastic thing with a cord and two buttons. She sighed, remembering her old tech teacher used to use outdated hardware like this. She held onto it, dragging a cursor over the file and double clicking it. There appeared a myriad of different data files, and Ashley clicked one randomly. A window opened which contained a large chart, detailing and describing a single whole strand of DNA. She scrolled to the side, looking in awe at the code. The scroll bar went on for miles, and different sections of the code were highlighted in different colors. Ashley could not understand the meaning of any of it though, there weren't any explanations for which segments of code did which. She returned to the idle screen.

The counter on the bottom of the screen now read four minutes and thirteen seconds, and Ashley knew she still had time to check out one more file before high tailing it out of there. She double clicked on the file entitled "Journal Entries". Next there was a list of entries, the last of which was dated January 12, 2134, almost 21 years ago. Ashley double clicked it and frowned, expecting a video record. But instead it was a simple text entry.

-January 12, 2134-

Today is the day I'm leaving this plane, I'm sure of it now. My body has decayed to a point to where it's becoming impossible for even the Triforce to sustain my life. The humans once said, "You haven't lived unless you've had something to regret" and I've certainly had many things to regret over my life. But my main regret will be that I won't be here when Tanis will be free from the tank. I've spent almost half my life in dedication to make sure my legacy won't be forgotten, I just hope that Tanis will be able to carry the legacy for me. I have already said goodbye to all of my companions that I've known over my life today, including a short trip back to Hyrule. Ruru was sad to know I won't see her again, but she knew just as I do that nothing good can ever last forever. I wasn't able to stay there for long however, my energy was waning faster and faster. And now, I stand here looking up at Tanis and I wonder how his life will be. Will he have a journey as long and hard as mine? Will he get along with the humans? Or will tragedy befall his life with a short and untimely death? All I know is that I have given him a life and it is up to him what he does with it. My story is over, his has only begun. It will be good to see Ai again.

-Mewtwo

Ashley was astounded. She still clearly remembered her father's tales of an all powerful psychic Pokemon named Mewtwo. He had told her an amazing tale of how he had witnessed Mewtwo facing off with the criminal syndicate Team Rocket. He told her how Mewtwo had earned freedom for himself and several other Pokemon and then left the world. Apparently, he had came back, and this was his lab. She looked up again at the creature in the tank. She noticed it had slightly orange tinted fur, and the golden lines on its head seemed to merge down directly with its skin. As she shone her flashlight around its tank she saw a plaque that had been obscured from the other side of the room. It had one simple word engraved on it in bold, noble letters; "TANIS".

"Maturation cycle complete" The computer croaked from behind Ashley. She jolted around to look at the computer screen. The countdown timer had reached zero and was flashing. "Neural link disengaged, proceeding with revival procedures." The computer's lifeless metallic voice chilled Ashley to the bone.

Ashley turned around to look at the tank again, and as she watched the small interface on Tanis's head unattached and receded up into the ceiling and the wires that attached to his body popped loose and were withdrawn. The tank then began lowering, and Ashley vainly attempted to make her body run away. But she was paralyzed by fear and a small part of her was curious about what would happen. The tank came to a stop against the floor and Tanis sat on the bottom of the rounded bottom. A robotic arm extended down from the ceiling. At the tip of the metal appendage was a large syringe filled with a liquid Ashley didn't dare make a guess as to what it was. The needle stuck into Tanis's arm and the liquid was injected into him quickly. The arm then retracted as quickly as it had appeared and the tank made a strange humming noise. There was a loud click, and the whole tank rotated a small bit. With one more loud click, the tank was suddenly released from the ceiling entirely. The open end tipped over and poured all of the liquid as well as Tanis out onto the floor and Ashley jumped back reflexively as the orange liquid flooded the floor of the entire lab.

The orange liquid sloshed up around Ashley's ankles and subsided, flowing out the door and through other unseen cracks in the rusty steel floor. Tanis laid limply there, face down in the draining fluid that had sustained him for so long. His body didn't move, not even a slow rise and fall that would have indicated breathing. For a few moments, Ashley thought he was dead, but she nearly jumped he his body suddenly convulsed. He jerked violently as he erupted into a coughing fit. His lungs violently expelled the once oxygenated orange liquid and switched to breathing air. He coughed and coughed, and as his lungs finally cleared he wheezed and spat a few more mouthfuls of the liquid out. He pushed himself up with his arms and looked out the door to the lab.

"Is there anybody out there?" A voice whispered in Ashley's head. She gasped in surprise and Tanis's head jerked around to look at her.

Ashley and Tanis locked eyes, neither moving a muscle and each hardly breathing. Tanis's eyes were the deepest, darkest purple that Ashley had ever seen, and Ashley's amber eyes fascinated Tanis.

"Well met, Human Ashley." Tanis's voice echoed.

**Chapter II-R1**

"Some day, we'll meet again." Had been Mewtwo's words. They were the last words he had said before leaving Hyrule for the last time, and Ruru remembered them well. She remembered the first time she had met him so many years ago. He appeared in Hyrule field one day when she was making a trading run with her sister Kalana to Hyrule castle. She had thought him first to be a demon, and after he had spoken they slowly became acquainted. He told them his story, and she and Kalana had disbelieved him until he showed them what had laid just inside his body. He had shown them his life story then with his mind, played it out in visions for them to watch. It was all Ruru had needed to trust him, and they had soon became good friends. But he had only stayed in Hyrule for a few months, he said he had to return to his own world to attend to important business.

And 21 years ago, he had returned again to say goodbye to her. She had wondered what had kept him from visiting her in the nearly one hundred years he had been gone, and was shocked to see how much he had aged. She had aged only 20 years, but he had become as one who looked like a tribe elder. And now it had been another 21 years since he had said his goodbye and she still remembered his words fresh in her mind.

Ruru's mother Hadara had finally passed on from old age only ten years ago, she had lived for nearly 570 years, a good age for any Gerudo. Kalana was now the Tribe Elder, and Ruru was now her apprentice. Gerudo society had entered a Golden age, and the desert on which they lived was slowly receding. Gerudos were now trying their hands at farming and craftsmanship. Soon they would no longer be dependant on thieving and trade with the Hylians. The Hylians had also done some advancements of their own as well. Kakariko Village at the base of Death Mountain had grown into a full size city that rivaled Hyrule Castle City in commerce and population. Large farms had popped up all over Hyrule field so now its vast expanses were not only used for just cattle ranching.

"Come on, we're going to be late!" Kalana called from across the bridge that spanned the chasm of Gerudo Valley.

Ruru sighed and pulled out of her recollections. She stood up and walked across the firm wooden bridge. The strong summer sun pounded down out of the sky, and the sound of the water rushing in the canyon below was clear and loud. Ruru's body was now 29 years old by Hylian or human standards, and she wore the traditional adult Gerudo garb. She wore the stone less silver Tiara that signified the Elder's apprentice just as Kalana had before their mother had died. Now Kalana wore the golden tiara with the Elder's Ruby.

"Do you think it's a good idea to be late for a Hylian Unity Council?" Kalana asked.

"No, you know I don't. I just got caught up in thought." Ruru replied.

Kalana sighed and shook her head. "You need to get your head out of the clouds if you want to be an Elder after me. Now let's get a horse and go, we don't have time to stay and talk."

So the two sisters took horses from the newly built stable on this side of the canyon and took their leave of the valley. The rode on out into Hyrule field and pushed their horses into a run. The wispy grass zoomed past them as the muscular horses propelled them across the field at an amazing rate. Acres of grains sped past in the sunlight, and small, scattered farmhouses dotted the field. They rode down roads between fences that demarked the farmlands and a few Hylians working in the fields looked up to watch them as they galloped past. The spires of the blue lined towers of Hyrule Castle rose in splendor in the distance. After more riding through the same landscapes, they neared the Castle's gates. Cresting one last hill, the white stone face of the City Walls rose up into view and they raced down to the great wooden drawbridge.

"Take care of our horses for us!" Kalana shouted at the Hylian gate attendant. She leapt down off of her mount and ran down into the city streets. Ruru smiled sheepishly at the attendant who looked thoroughly bewildered.

"Late for the council?" The attendant asked.

"Yep. Gotta go." Ruru said, climbing down off of her horse. She then dashed into the city to catch up to her sister.

"Wait up Kalana!" Ruru shouted as she wove in between the people of Hyrule Castle City. The city had grown massively since the times when Mewtwo used to visit. It had nearly doubled in size and the roads now carried many laden carts from building to building. People swarmed the streets, trading and making purchases with the new coined currency that Hyrule's government had minted. Ruru had to push and shove her way through a gaggle of crazed buyers that were clustering across the road where there was an especially popular goods stand. Passing through the crowd, Ruru sprinted down the street and turned left on a T junction. The road stretched out in front of her, but Kalana was nowhere to be seen. She turned around and looked down the other road, and there was no sign of Kalana down that path either.

Ruru growled a Hylian swearword and picked the path that she had looked down first. She dashed down the almost empty road , past a few Hylians who wondered what her hurry was as she passed. Ruru came to a four way intersection and again cursed, Kalana was not down any of the other paths.

"Kalana!" Ruru bellowed at the top of her voice. "Kalana!"

There was no answer, so Ruru again picked a path and ran as fast as she could. She wished she had taken the time out to learn Hyrule City's streets the way Kalana knew them. She passed through another crowd of crazed traders and arrived at another four way intersection. Seeing no sign of her sister, Ruru filled her lungs and shouted again. Waiting a few seconds, she let out another shout. A hand clasped around her shoulder in mid shout and she turned to see Kalana standing there with a hand drawn cart behind her.

"Come on, we're horridly late now!" Kalana said urgently, hopping back into the cart.

"You got us a cart? That's great!" Ruru said, jumping in as well.

"This will double the price." The man who was pulling them said.

"We'll triple it if you sprint the whole way!" Kalana said.

"Yes Ma'am!" the cart puller said. He took off as fast as he could and the wooded wheels clacked loudly on the cobblestone street. Ruru vaguely wondered why she hadn't heard them approach.

When the cart pulled up in front of the Castle's main inner gate, Kalana jumped out, pulling Ruru with her.

"This aught to cover it, keep the change!" Kalana shouted to the cart puller, throwing him a bag stuffed with the new Hylian coins. The man grinned broadly and bowed to the two girls as the ran through the main gate.

"A pleasure being of service to you!" The cart man counted.

Ruru and Kalana ran through the Entranceway to the Great Hall and when they entered the main hall, they found the delegates of all the other Hylian peoples sitting around the royal table waiting for them.

"You're late!" said Sirpala, the Queen of Hyrule. Sirpala was a direct descendant of the legendary Queen Zelda, she wore the same golden Tiara that Zelda had worn as Queen as well. To Sirpala's left was the Goron leader Dregar, who was a direct descendant of the ancient Goron Darunia. To Sirpala's right was Iona, the Queen of the Zoras and descendant of Ruto's royal line. Next to Iona was Abaim, leader of the last remaining Sheikah and descendant of Impa. And there was Saria next to him. The Kokiri girl had not aged a day over so many thousands of years, she was older than everyone else in the room combined and she still had a child's body. The Deku Tree had given her the ability to leave the Forest Temporarily for the Unity Council.

"I'm sorry Sirpala, but we were caught in the crowds in the city and couldn't get a handcart for the longest time." Kalana said, taking a seat next to Dregar. Ruru sat next to Kalana.

"It doesn't matter, we have important matters to discuss." Sirpala said. "I have recently come into contact with explorers who claimed to have traveled across the Western Sea. They have offered an alliance with Hyrule, and the Zoran Nation, but they have refused to acknowledge the Gorons, Gerudos, or the Sheikah as organized peoples and will not offer any alliances to them. They have even expressed hostility towards the Sheikah, and have refused to contact the Gerudos or the Gorons."

The great hall was silent for a few moments, and then Dregar broke the stillness. "Don't tell me you're even considering allying with these slime balls! They've insulted our people!"

"I can't believe this! It sounds like they're intentionally trying to divide us!" Kalana said. "I'm shocked you would even listen to them Sirpala!" Kalana said, her voice struggling to stay low.

"They have told me of a vast army they have been building, and can know if they're lying or not?" Sirpala said. "The Hylian army right now is disorganized and poorly trained, and a war of any kind could be disastrous for Hyrule. I'm not prepared to ignore their threats."

"Would you risk the Sheikah looting your storehouses at night?" said Abaim, rage glinting in his eyes. His face remained emotionless, but his feelings were obvious from the deadly sparkle one could see in his pupils.

"Do not threaten me," Sirpala said, her temper rising. "Hyrule has acted as a protector to your people for thousands of years now, and you needn't bite the hand that holds the sword which keeps you safe."

"Do not fool with me Sirpala, if you ally with these people now you will have abandoned this protector's role and given us cause to attack you as well. Do not underestimate our power." Abaim said, standing up out of his chair to look straight at Sirpala.

"Stop this now!" Iona chimed, "Should the need to fight these newcomers arise the Zoras will be ready to send their forces to your aid Sirpala!"

"You met with their leader, Rirsh, did you not Iona?" Sirpala asked.

"Yes, he met me to extend the hand of friendship and we had a pleasant discussion about what life in Hyrule is like." Iona said.

"Then he did not say to you that he has an army of over 30,000 men ready should a war arise?" Sirpala said grimly.

There was a stunned silence in the hall, all those in the room stared at Sirpala in shock. Once again, Dregar was the one to break the stillness.

"Do you think he is telling the truth? I find it hard to believe that an army that vast could be easily moved an ocean as vast as the Western Sea. I think he is bluffing. You should send him on his merry way."

"I think we should imprison them and interrogate them." Abaim said emotionlessly. His silver Sheikah hair made him look almost ghostly as he spoke.

"Stop this foolishness!" Saria said, being the first time she had spoke. "You do not need to have official recognition by these people in order to be friends with them do you? Government is just a façade designed to represent the people. Why do you need yours to be recognized when your people can just become friends with them directly?"

"This is more than recognition," Abaim said, "If these people were to attack the Sheikah, and if they were allied with Sirpala and her people, then there would be a conflict of interests! I will not let the Sheikah be put into this position!"

"Who's to say they will attack you?" Ruru suddenly burst out. All eyes turned to her, but she proceeded without a trace of nervousness. "Just because they've been unfriendly to you or your people doesn't mean they're going to try and attack you when they know that Sirpala and her people might act to defend you!"

"Does the number 30,000 mean anything to you?" Sirpala said angrily. "With an army like that they could do whatever they please. They don't have to be worried about Hyrule attacking them, because I cannot go to war with them without being destroyed!"

Kalana kicked Ruru in the shin, trying to get her to be quiet. Ruru frowned and let her head sink to the table in anger.

"Again you go thinking that this number they're touting might be real!" Dregar said. "They've insulted the Gorons and I will not stand for it! I will not accept an alliance from any of you with them, they are slime!"

"Can you not see the folly of your pride?" Iona said in an almost pleading tone. "You cannot let your anger blind you and cause a war! Surely, there must be a way to settle this peacefully!"

"There is." Saria said. "It is simple. We make no decisions now, but we wait and see what these people do. Sirpala, you will offer them a place to stay in the Castle, and try to milk as much information out of them as possible. Ask them why they have not accepted the Gorons, Gerudos or Sheikah, and avoid making any commitments. We will see what their reaction is."

"Again your wisdom outshines us all." Kalana said, smiling.

"Is this acceptable?" Sirpala asked the council. Everyone nodded except Abaim, who slapped his left hand on the table to abstain.

"Do whatever you will, but if I hear of you accepting their proposals, I will make sure my assassins slit your throat." Abaim said, and then got up and left.

Sirpala sighed, containing her rage. "Council dismissed then I guess." She said, and the rest of the council members left the room filled with discontent.

A/N: I hope this cleared up any confusion, seeing as how a couple of people didn't notice that I said "Mewtwo has passed out of this world" in the summary. This story will follow around Tanis, Ashley, Ruru, and one more character who will be introduced in the next chunk. To make it perfectly clear, Mewtwo lived for almost 110 years before dying, and this story takes place 21 years after his death. And I'm glad to see so many people reviewed the prologue, it's good to know I still have the gift of foreshadowing. And things are still the same, reviews help no matter how short and signed or not.


	3. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 2

**Legacies  
**A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Continuing on with the chunk system, here's yet another juicy part for you! School's been slowing me down yes, but they'll never stop me from writing what I love!

**Chapter III-I1**

The beautiful blue ocean passed quickly underneath the majestic Lemurian ship as it flew over the water. Its majestic dragon wings and head proudly jutted out into the air as the ship soared through the sky. At its helm stood two Venus Adepts, masters of the Earth Element. Together they directed the motions of the noble flying vessel, fighting the strong winds and keeping constant vigil over the endless waters that stretched for miles all around. Their energies, known as psynergy, were the force that kept the ship in the air. They and their allies in the bottom decks below were using their psynergy collectively, and the boat sundered the air currents without the slightest trembling.

"I'm going to go down and check on the others Felix, keep the helm steady." The first adept said.

"No problem Isaac, just bring me something to drink from the hold, I'm parched." Said the other Adept.

Isaac walked across the deck and to the door that lead into the ship's lower decks. He hummed idly as he opened the door, but was interrupted when he heard a short yelp from behind the door. He looked in to see Mia, a Mercury Adept, sitting on the floor and covered with tea. A tea tray laid upside-down on top of her white and blue dress and biscuits were scattered all over the floor. Mia's long blue hair looked frazzled and she wore a face that showed surprise.

"I'm so sorry Mia!" Isaac exclaimed, helping the Water Master up to her feet.

"Oh it's quite alright Isaac, this does make it hard to come and go when there are so many of us on the ship. I had come to bring you and Felix some tea, but I suppose I will have to fix up some more." Mia said, looking down at her stained dress.

"The tea's no problem, but your dress! It's ruined!" Isaac said, frowning.

"Don't worry about it, I can use psynergy to clean it later once we've landed. Now, I should go fetch that tea." Mia said. She and Isaac then walked down into the ship's second deck where more of their group were conversing together.

"So you've never played the lucky reels in Contigo before?" Asked a short, blonde haired Jupiter Adept named Ivan.

"No, I saw the place when we were passing through the city but I didn't really think of going in there." Said the fiery haired Mars Adept Garet.

"It's quite a lot of fun, if you have enough game tickets to play." Ivan said, smiling.

"You use them for something after all eh? I wondered why all these shopkeepers across the world gave them out. There must be other locations around, because I don't know of many people who live on Osenia who would travel all the way to Atteka just to play the slots." Garet said.

"Hey guys, how's everything going?" Isaac asked, sitting down next to Ivan and Garet.

"At this rate we're going to run out of topics for conversation before psynergy or food." Ivan said, smiling at his old friend Isaac. "We'll be bored out of our minds by the time we get to Madra."

"Where are Jenna, Sheba, Piers and Kraden?" Isaac asked.

"They're down in the bottom deck, Kraden wanted to study the ship's power source a bit more and Piers took them down there." Garet said.

"Oops!" Mia said as a group of teabags hit the floor. The ship had rocked and it had caused her to drop them off of the table in the corner.

"What was that?" Ivan asked, bewildered.

"Something's up," Isaac said, "Felix must be rocking the boat intentionally to get our attention. Come on, let's go see!"

The four of them grabbed their weapons and leapt up the stairs out onto the deck of the ship. They raced up to the front of the ship to see that there was another boat in front of them. It was also Lemurian, a ship of exactly the same shape and design, but without the magic wings of Anemos that Isaac's ship wore. The other ship was sailing briskly on the ocean's surface, and Isaac's ship had slowed down to match its speed.

"It's Alex, we've caught up with him." Felix said. "Go tell the others, we're descending to board Alex's ship."

"Stay here you guys, I'll go myself." Isaac said.

Isaac rushed back down below decks, past the mess of tea bags and down another flight of stairs. He raced through wooden halls, turning the corner and colliding directly with the Scholar Kraden.

"Oh, so sorry about that Isaac!" Kraden said, struggling with his old arthritic knees to stand up.

"It's alright Kraden, this happening isn't too out of the ordinary for me today." Isaac said. "Now come on, we need to get to the others, we've finally caught up with Alex's ship!"

Piers, also a Mercury adept, who was standing behind Kraden, looked shocked. "I would have thought he'd already be hidden away in Madra by now!" He said.

"No time to talk, let's move!" Isaac said. He, Kraden, Piers, Sheba and Jenna sprinted up the stairs and made their way back to the top deck.

As the five of them scrambled out of the door on the top deck, Felix shouted over to them, "Brace for landing!"

The Lemurian ship they were riding suddenly clipped the ocean's surface and the whole of the vessel shook and wobbled violently. Sheba fell flat on her face as the ship rocked forward, as the speed of their movement through the air was suddenly sucked away by the calm waters as they slowly immersed.

The boat steadied and the psynergy drain of flying was suddenly gone from each adept's mind. They all readied their weapons as Alex's slower ship loomed closer and closer.

"Kraden, take the helm." Felix said, gesturing for the grayed old man to come to the wheel. "Undoubtedly I will have to fight with the others. Alex is too powerful to take lightly." Felix fingered the hilt of his Sol Blade unconsciously as Kraden stepped up and grasped the wheel.

"Yes of course, he has absorbed some of the power of the Golden Sun, so you will need all the collective power you can muster." Kraden said. "Go now, get the Djinni ready and prep the others for battle. We will be alongside Alex's ship in minutes."

Felix nodded and shouted over to the others that he was going to fetch their Djinni from the hold. He dashed down the steps, through the first deck and down the steps into the bottom deck. He turned a few corners and found the playful little elemental spirits frolicking about the storage room. He called out to them and they snapped to attention, forming a cute little line in front of him. He lead all 72 of them in a cute little line up both sets of stairs and out onto the upper deck. Each member of the party then called to their specific Djinn until they were all redistributed to their owners. They looked odd as they were Set to their owners' armors. The brown colored Venus Djinni looked like studs of Isaac's armor as they stuck to him like magnets. He smiled, knowing that appearances were deceiving and the Djinni were a lot more than magnets.

As Alex's ship finally lined up with Isaac and friends', the adepts stepped forward and looked over onto the deck of the other ship. Alex, the long blue haired Mercury adept stood at the helm, pretending not to notice them as they stared at him. He whistled a merry tune and turned his head to look in the opposite direction.

"That's it, he's pissed me off for the last time." Garet growled. He jumped across the gap between the two ships and the rest of their eight member party followed. They approached Alex, weapons at ready and hands on their Djinni.

"I wondered when you would finally catch up with me." Alex suddenly said, his head still turned the other way. Garet growled silently and clenched his Fire Brand harder.

"You know what we're here for. Give us the Stone of Sages, now!" Felix said loudly, stepping up in front of the group.

Alex still refused to turn and face them, and Garet was in danger of going off and attacking the nonchalant man. "Why would I give it to you? Do you think your numbers will help you now? Do you think that your Djinni can match the Power of the Golden Sun?" Alex said. He turned to face them suddenly, his light blue cape fluttering.

"My friends, you can have the stone of Sages when you can pry it out of my cold, dead hands. And since I've already achieved immortality, I'm afraid your ambition is rather misplaced." Alex said, looking Felix straight in the eye.

"You underestimate us!" Isaac said, stepping up to be shoulder to shoulder with Felix.

"Actually I haven't as a matter of fact, and it's true that your power is a force that is only matched in this world by mine. That's why I would like to offer you a chance to stop this frivolous bickering between us. These is no need to squander your abilities as such, together we could rule all of Weyward!" Alex said, thrusting his arms into the air.

"Do you think we'd fall for such trickery after you used us so easily to gain the Power of the Golden Sun?" Mia asked, her gentle demeanor gone. "You are of my people, and yet you've manipulated me and my friends and then tossed us aside so easily, why do you think we would want to join you now?"

Alex sighed and shook his head. "It was a means to an end, elegant Mia. I ask of your forgiveness, would you give it to me?"

"Never." Mia spat. "You've disgraced our people and you're a menace to all of Weyward."

"Then I'm afraid I will have to use another means to the same end. I will have to kill you all to take your Djinni." Alex said. He drew a glowing blue sword and looked at Isaac and his party. "Watery Grave!" He suddenly said, and his psynergy jolted to life.

On Alex's command a giant wall of water swelled up over the side of the boat and slammed into all of them. Garet and Jenna being Mars adepts, were especially affected by Alex's special attack. It stole their life energy away quickly and methodically, nearly washing them off of the boat entirely. They grabbed the edge of the boat and pulled themselves back aboard. Without pause, the entire group rushed forward at once. Each member unleashed a Djinn, all focusing their attacks on Alex at once. Felix used the Venus power of the Echo Djinn to power up his blade. He struck Alex once and then the Djinni echoed the attack, knocking Alex up into the air for a short moment. Jenna unleashed the power of the Mars Djinn Cannon, it grew and blazed forward, colliding with Alex head on and knocking him backwards. Sheba unleashed the Jupiter Djinn Wheeze, and it powered up her staff to strike with a deadly poison. Alex took the staff blow in the face and the poison seeped through his skin and into his system.

Piers unleashed the Mercury Djinn Sour, and it empowered his blade to strike with a blow that would disable Alex's elemental resistances. Alex's armor took the slash safely, but the power of the Djinn drained his resistance considerably. Alex had enough of these attacks however. Before Isaac and the rest of the group had the chance to continue the attacks he cast a spell of his own. "Megacool!" He shouted, raising his hands. Spikes of ice appeared under Felix, Sheba and Jenna, cutting into their armors and bruising them. Isaac saw the opening for an attack and charged, unleashing the power of the Venus Djinn Flint. His sword struck Alex's armor with a blow that could cleave stone, blasting Alex back again. Garet then attacked, unleashing the power of the Mars Djinn Shine. The Djinn flew up into the air and emitted a brilliant light, blinding all. It then lunged at Alex and blasted him with the heat from four furnaces. Ivan, attack next unleashed the power of the Jupiter Djinn Luff, and a psynergy sealing symbol appeared on Alex's armor. Alex tried to cast Megacool again, but the seal blocked it. Mia sat back from the fighting, casting Pure Wish to heal the other fighters.

Alex tried desperately to use another psynergy, but the seal on him blocked it again. "No! How can this be? All of my power comes from my "No! How can this be? All of my power comes from my psynergy!" Alex howled.

"Now will you give us the Stone of Sages back or will we have to force you to?" Isaac asked.

"Never!" Alex cried and ran at Felix brandishing his sword. The two traded blows and counter blows for a few moments before Alex was blasted backwards by a beam of fire energy that Jenna had shot at him.

As Alex stumbled to his feet, he tried to use his self recovering abilities, but since they were driven by psynergy as well, his efforts were in vain. He started to unstrap his armor, but he was interrupted when Felix grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up into the air.

"Give it to us now, or die." Felix said, glaring into Alex's cold calculating eyes.

Suddenly, the boat shook violently underneath all their feet, and Felix lost his grip on Alex as he was thrown to the deck by the shock. Everyone looked to the source of the shock to see another ship had pulled up to the other side of Alex's ship. It was not Lemurian, in fact none of them recognized the design. From the deck of the ship came ten muscular men wearing black body suits similar to those that ninjas wear. They moved quickly and decisively to surround Alex and his opponents.

"We've come for the stone." One of them hissed. His voiced sounded ghoulish, almost like it shouldn't have even come from a human vocal cord.

"It is mine!" Alex said, still defiant to the end.

"We've already claimed it for ourselves." Isaac said calmly to the man who had earlier spoke.

Before anyone could attack, the black clad men dashed at Isaac and his party, attacking with short blades with incredible speed. The swordplay that ensued was vicious, Isaac and his friends were outmatched in physical strength and these men weren't giving them enough time to unleash their Djinn. And Alex knew this was the moment he needed. He finished unstrapping his armor and tossed it aside. With the seal gone, he used his teleport psynergy and disappeared. Abruptly the battle stopped, and the men in the ninja suits dashed away from Isaac's injured party back to their generic looking ship. Their boat suddenly began to rise out of the water just as Isaac's ship could, but then it streaked away at nearly ten times the speed that their boat could. It was gone over the horizon before Isaac and friends could even react.

"Looks like we've got some competition." Garet said.

**Chapter IV – T1**

Why, why had Tanis's father done this to him? Tanis couldn't remember how long he had been trapped in that hellish mental void, ever since his father's messages had broken and faded away, he had been trapped in an inky void of blackness. He didn't know how the neural simulator had lost power, and that this was the reason for being trapped in emptiness for so long. He teetered on the brink of insanity for years as the lab decayed just outside him, out of his perception. He tried to reach out to the outside world through his mind, but all he could find was silence and emptiness just like in his mind. He wondered if he was dead, or possibly insane, but he knew one thing, it was totally out of his control. The one thing he clung on to was the series of messages that his father had passed onto him via the machine so many years ago. His father's messages of peace, tolerance, and self control, and the simple image of his face, were the things that kept him from spiraling into madness as he lived out his years in the void.

And when them void suddenly ended, it was like being able to see again after a lifetime of blindness. His interface with the computer that sustained him burst to life as the system's power was restored. The void was replaced with a basic computer startup screen, scrolling start up codes and self diagnostic programs. And the interface showed him as the computer opened up the regular idle screen with a timer ticking on the bottom and four folders. A mouse cursor moved across his vision and opened the Genetic Database file, and then opened a randomly selected item to bring up the chart of a DNA strand. Tanis remembered it from the basic intelligence training that this very same computer had fed to him years ago. He watched as the viewer scrolled down the DNA strand for a few moments, and then exited back to the idle screen. He saw the mouse select the Journal entries that his father had written, files that he had not read in years. As the mysterious operator read the file, Tanis wondered what his or her intentions were and if he would finally be released into the real world. And then, the counter in the bottom of the computer display reached zero and the computer's voice croaked blearily in Tanis's head, "Maturation Cycle Complete." Suddenly everything went black again.

Tanis lost the umbilical connection with his surrogate computer mother and his mind fell back into the void again. He started to feel physical sensations, movement of liquid across his skin, popping feelings as wires disengaged from him. He felt a slight downward motion and after a few moments, his entire tank tipped over and spilled him out. He came into full consciousness of the cold steel floor, and a pain suddenly shot up his chest. His lungs convulsed and he involuntarily vomited several times. The feeling of air in his lungs was new and much more satisfying than breathing that self recycling oxygenated liquid that he had not even known about until now. As he stopped coughing and choking, he felt his powers finally come under his full control, and he opened his real, physical eyes for the first time. He saw darkness, shadow filled darkness that different from the absolute black of the void. He tested out his powers and called out mentally.

"Is there anybody out there?" He asked. He heard a gasp behind him and he jerked his head around to see a strange looking being looking back at him in apparent terror. It looked extremely similar to the pictures of humans the computer had shown him. He easily read the human's mind and found it she was called Ashley.

"Well met, Human Ashley." He said to her.

"Wha....what are you?" The human girl asked, still terrified.

"I am Tanis, son of Mewtwo." Tanis said. "Tell me, why are you frightened?"

Ashley stared at Tanis for a moment, finally mustering up the gumption to say; "You're, not going to kill me?"

Tanis laughed merrily, and Ashley clasped her ears, trying to figure out how she was hearing him inside her head. "You're the first truly living being I've come into contact with in my life! Why would I wish to do you harm? I would rather wish to kindle a bond between us, a bond that my father called friendship." Tanis said.

"You said, your father? I thought you said I was the only living being you'd met!" Ashley said, now very distraught.

"He left recorded messages for me, he taught me the ways of this world. And he told me that the most valuable thing in this world is a friend. Would you show my friendship firsthand?" Tanis asked, reaching his three fingered hand down to Ashley.

Ashley hesitated and then grasped it. It was still wet with the tank fluid, but it was warm and pulsed with life. He pulled her to her feet and they again looked into each others' eyes.

"Could we leave here?" Ashley asked suddenly. "It would be nicer to show you friendship in a place less dank and daunting as this."

"I would like to see the outside world besides, so it would be a good thing for both of us." Tanis said.

Before the two could walk out the door however, the computer screen flashed behind them, automatically opening a file. They both looked up at it intently as a video recording began playing. Tanis knew immediately that it was his father appearing on the screen, but Mewtwo's face seemed to be weathered and old and his eyes were a much deeper and darker shade of purple.

"Tanis, if you're watching this now, it means your life has just opened up to you and mine has come to a close a long time ago. Though I was not able to be there for you, I hope that you will find a way in your heart to forgive me and live your life freely without emotional or physical pain."

Mewtwo lifted his wrinkled hand, showing a beautiful milk-white gem embedded in the skin of his three fingered hand. "There is something important you must do before you venture out into the world however." Mewtwo said, his physical voice a tortured wheeze. "This stone in my hand, the light gem, appeared this morning to me as I woke. In mt other hand I have another."

Mewtwo raised his other hand and showed a jet black gem. "I knew right away that they were signs of my passing to be soon. Although I do not know what they are and why they have formed, I do know this; they contain great power. I will lay myself to rest in a separate room in this cave system, and there you must find and take these gems, for they must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. I myself would destroy them, but my waning energy will hardly allow me to lift an object with my mind anymore. It is your destiny to take these stones and to inherit my duties as the Sage of Time and to continue my legacy. The gems, Time Medallion, and Triforce will all be in my final resting place. I've fought all my life to prevent evil from using my power for destruction, and it is up to you to continue the legacy. You must return the Triforce to the world from whence it came, the land of Hyrule, and seal it away in the Sacred realm where it belongs. You must return the Time Medallion to its rightful heir, the true descendant of the Princess Zelda who should now exist again thanks to my work in their world. Then you can do as you wish with the two gems, for they are the true expressions of my life and power, not those which I was given by fate. They are yours to do with what you will."

"I must go now, death awaits impatiently at the doorway and the power of the Triforce cannot hold it off any longer. May your life be better than mine ever was." Mewtwo said, and then the screen blanked for a moment and reverted to the idle scrren.

"Final subroutine protocols completed, reverting to idle mode. Good luck Tanis." The computer croaked one more time before falling dark and silent.

Tanis looked at Ashley, and Ashley looked at Tanis. "I believe a short detour is in order." Tanis said, perfectly hiding his emotions from Ashley. Inside, he wanted to cry for his father's pain, but some part of him didn't feel comfortable expressing himself in front of Ashley. The computer had taught him that in human relations, it took time to build strong friendships, and only when they were strong could he share his inner feelings.

Ashley looked bewildered, and Tanis wanted to tell her how he felt, but he remembered his father telling him via recordings that humans could sometimes be untrustworthy, and he kept his face blank and began walking out toward the door. He heard Ashley sigh as she followed him, and it didn't take them long to reach the cave junction.

"Which way did your father go to put himself to rest? He didn't mention it in the video." Ashley said.

"There." Tanis said, pointing to the door farthest to the left. He could feel inherent psychic energy down that passage. They trooped down the cave through the dark, as Ashley had lost her flashlight somewhere in the lab when she had first fallen looking for a light switch. Tanis didn't need light to see, his eyes were already strong enough to determine the passages in the darkness. Ashley was smart enough to follow the sound of his awkward footsteps through the dark. Tanis needed to get acclimated to walking physically so he could train his legs, and if he floated down the passage he would surely lose his newfound friend. At last the came upon another door, but a shocking scene awaited them.

The smooth steel door had been ripped open like a tissue as if an enormous beast had rended through it with its claws. There were shuffling sounds inside and whispering that only Tanis could hear with his sensitive hearing.

"Stay here." Tanis said psychically to Ashley. He stepped forward and through the jagged hole in the door.

What lied inside the resting chamber was a disgraceful scene of defacement and destruction. There were twisted, bent and snapped metal poles and sections that looked like they had used to have been sculptures before they had been rent to shreds just like the door. In the center of the room was a giant steel sarcophagus, decorated only with two symbols, the seal of the Triforce and the seal of the Sage of Time. There were ugly melted marks around the edges, still glowing red where cutting torches had just been used. The lid had been melted almost all the way around by the time Tanis and Ashley had approached. It creaked under its own imbalanced weight as the remaining solid steel that held it began to bend and approach snapping. Out of the shadows, the men attacked.

This would be Tanis's first fight, but he knew he could win. He saw ten human men dropping down from the ceiling, dressed in all black body suits and wielding large steel swords. They silently sailed through the air at him, about to slash him into quarters, and he simply ducked and stepped slightly to the side. Creating an energy sword just as the computer had taught him, he stabbed one of the men in the side and the smell of scorched flesh seeped into the air. The man fell to the ground, clutching his side in the fetal position. Tanis spun and stabbed another man in the back, seeing in the darkness the glowing blade sever his spine. The man fell totally limp and simply sliced himself open over the blade as gravity pulled him down over it.

A third man attacked Tanis from the side, using one of the steel long swords they were carrying. Tanis met this blade with his, and the superheated energy blade melted right through the inferior metal. Tanis then kicked the man in his chest, collapsing his ribs, many of which stabbed him in his vital organs. Four more of them leapt at Tanis, who formed a second energy sword to hold one in each hand. He waited until they were close enough and gutted all four of them at once by spinning on his heels. He looked around for the last four but saw nothing. A human scream met his ears and he dashed over to the door where it had come from. One of the men dressed in black was holding a shorter sword up to Ashley's neck, threatening to slit it.

"You'll do as I say, or the girl gets a new mouth to eat from." The man hissed. His voice sounded like a gas hissing through a tight opening.

Ashley was quite able to handle this situation herself though. She had learned enough of the arts of self defense to know how to deal with this situation. She didn't give her captor time to say another word; she stomped on his foot as hard as she could, breaking in three places. She threw his restraining arm off and turned to punch the man right in the face. In his shock the man dropped his sword, and Ashley grabbed it and stabbed it through the man as he hit the ground.

The shrieking sound of ripping metal was heard behind them as the last three men attempted to rip the steel casket's lid off. Tanis grabbed them around their necks psychically and strangled all but one of them to death. He tossed away the limp ones and approached the one he had disabled. He took him over to the corner of the room, away from Ashley in an unrecognized precognition of something horrible about to happen. As he faced the man sitting in the corner of the room, his furious mind could only think of one question for the man.

"Who hired you?" Tanis growled in a deadly voice.

"Loyalty to the death! I will never tell!" The man's voice sounded like glass scraping against glass.

"Then I'll have to take the information directly from your mind." Tanis said, smiling deviously.

The man, still having free use of his hands, reached down to his belt and pressed a tiny red button. "No, you won't." He hissed, and that corner of the room erupted into a fiery explosion as the bomb on his belt detonated.

Ashley, who was still over by the door, was unharmed by the blast, she was knocked over backward but did not suffer injury. As the smoke cleared, she rushed over to find Tanis laying facedown near the crater made by the explosion, his skin charred and appearing unconscious. She turned him over to discover in horror that he had no right arm, the blast had blown it clean off. His unconscious face still held his total shock at the turn of events.

Not knowing what to do, Ashley panicked and picked Tanis up by his other arm and began to carry him down the tunnel back to the junction. His weight was extraordinary and she could barely support his weight. She moved as fast as she could, wondering how long he could stay alive. She made it to the junction and was about to go down the exit path when Tanis began to wake. He groaned in pain and his eyes fluttered open. She set him down and looked at him as he regained consciousness.

"What happened?" Tanis asked.

"The man had a bomb on himself and it went off, taking your arm with it! We're at least 50 miles from a hospital and my cell phone's been out of batteries for a long time! I don't know what to do1" Ashley said, suppressing her panic.

"Don't worry, I can use my energy to heal myself....to an extent." Tanis said. He focused his mind and closed his eyes, and as Ashley watched, the burnt skin around the wound flaked off and revealed new skin. But his arm did not grow back, and he shuddered in pain.

"I can't replace the arm," Tanis said, suppressing the horrific pain. "I don't have enough energy to do it."

"What are we going to do?" Ashley asked, panic getting the best of her again.

"There is a med bay back in the cloning lab, hopefully it is still functional." Tanis said.

"Then let's go!" Ashley said. She picked Tanis up by his left arm again and the two of them worked together to go back down the tunnel to the lab.

As the two of them entered, Tanis pointed over to another large glass tube big enough to fit him inside. She carried him over and he pressed the open button on the control panel, hoping for the best. Thankfully, the lights in the tube flickered on and the door in the glass opened without malfunction. He climbed inside and told Ashley to push the button to close and activate the machine. The glass slid closed once again and the machine hummed to life.

Slowly and surely a scanner looked over every inch of his body, documenting his injury to its full extent. As the beam swept across him multiple times, Tanis felt the shock about to overtake his consciousness. Then a fast gushing sound was heard and an antiseptic fluid rushed up from under the floor. It flowed up to his neck to emerge his right shoulder and stopped. The machine hummed in inactivity as it prepared its treatment. Then a small syringe filled with a powerful local anesthetic rose from the floor on a robotic arm and injected into his wound site. The pain stopped in its tracks and Tanis felt the shock began to recede. Then, another three robotic arms came up from the floor. One of these was holding another robotic arm that had an open shoulder joint, Tanis's temporary replacement arm. The pain deep in his shoulder stabbed him as the machine methodically attached the new arm, connecting its interface to his nervous system and integrating its hydrostatic cooling system to his bloodstream. The microscopic tendrils it used to meld the tissue together slowly began to pull out of the skin of his arm and he soon had a new arm. He tested it, the three metal claw fingers moved just as smoothly and naturally as regular fingers. His elbow had a complete range of motion and his new shoulder joint moved perfectly as well. The arm moved with a metallic sound, the sound of smooth metals sliding over the top of each other. Blue lights glowed inside, and it seemed to be the same shape as his arm. The machine wasn't designed for aesthetics however, and its smooth blue metal surface was unnatural coupled with the lights glowing from its inside.

As the liquid slowly drained, Tanis felt the pain in his shoulder returning as the temporary anesthetic wore off. He used what little psychic energy he had left to heal the tissues of his shoulder and to encourage them to integrate with the mechanism. The pain dulled and almost disappeared, but a hint remained there as the door to the tube finally opened. Ashley's concerned face comforted him, and he smiled at her.

The two of them returned to Mewtwo's resting place, and Tanis received a chance to test his new arm. The lid of the sarcophagus was still attached in one place and the opening mechanism had been fused when the men had used the cutting torch to blast through it. Tanis used his robotic arm's extreme physical power to punch the lid sideways, snapping it off of the last bit of steel holding it in place. The scream of the metal ripping was only rivaled by the deafening clanging of the solid steel lid hitting the steel floor with all its weight. The floor shook and their ears throbbed. Tanis ignored it however, he was looking down at his father's remains.

There was nothing but a bleached skeleton left of the one whom had given him life, his strange egg shaped skull looking right into Tanis's heart. There was a Triforce shaped hold in the skull where it had entered his body the first time. And lying there in the pile of bones were the three glowing Triangles themselves, not diminished by the years they had seen. Lying below them was the sky blue Medallion that Tanis knew was the symbol for the Sage of Time. On the bones of both his father's hands were the two black and white gems Tanis had seen in the video. Tanis grabbed them first, feeling the energy they held as he touched them. He handed them to Ashley for her to hold while he fetched the other items. The Time Medallion was super smooth in his hands, and he could feel his father's memories recorded in it. He handed it back to Ashley and reached down to take the Triforce. But as he touched it, a blast of golden light blinded him and knocked him backwards. He opened his eyes and looked to see the three golden triangles hovering above the casket.

"Your heart and mind are unbalanced between the three divine traits of Courage, Wisdom and Power. You will be granted the Triforce of Courage and no more. If you wish to obtain the other two pieces, you must embark on a spiritual quest to balance your heart, and then seek out the other two pieces." The deep voice of the Triforce rumbled. The three golden triangles then split apart, and two of them suddenly disappeared. The thir simply fell back to the ground, clinging clearly against the steel. Still too surprised to comprehend the full significance of what had just happened, Tanis reached down and picked up the only piece left, and as he did so, it suddenly flew out of his fingers and collided with his skull to enter his body.

A/N: An above average 13 page chunk this was, and super exciting too! What could be the significance of these ninja-like men appearing in both Tanis's world and the Golden Sun world? What will happen to the other two pieces of the Triforce? Keep reading and reviewing and we'll see!


	4. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 3

**Legacies  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths**  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Wow, the last few weeks have been school sponsored insanity. This writing had to take a back seat to the grueling schoolwork load. It won't improve either, unless there's a sudden lull in the barrage of tests and homework. I hope you enjoy this next chunk, it could be the last one for awhile again.

**Chapter V – A2**

Ashley hadn't been so stressed since the day of her Calculus finals. As she dragged Tanis' unconscious body back toward the lab and the med bay, she wondered what else could go wrong today. She had met Tanis and then been thrown right into a fight with some strange ninja-like men, and now a golden triangle had assaulted Tanis' skull. She wondered what her father Ash would think if he could know what was happening. A low, almost unperceivable rumbling reverberated through the tunnels, and Ashley stopped to rest in the central chamber of the cave. Tanis was extraordinarily heavy, and her back ached from carrying him almost as if she were carrying her school bags again.

Feeling the rumbling in the stone floor underneath her, Ashley wondered what could possibly be going on outside now. The heavy rain might have caused a landslide on the mountain's surface above her, but it felt like the rumbling was coming from below. Shrugging it off, she proceeded back down the hallway to the main lab. Halfway down, she noticed that the light of her flashlight was starting to dim. The indicator now read twenty minutes, and her pulse quickened. She picked up her pace, knowing that having no light in a cave like this meant death. The faint orange light of the lab ahead was a beacon that she homed in on like a crazed moth.

Finally making it into the lab, Ashley carried Tanis over to the glass tube of the Med bay and put him inside it. She pushed the activation button and the door slid closed. The machine hummed to life and a few minutes passed as Ashley turned her flashlight off to conserve the batteries. The flickering, dim orange light of the few remaining ceiling lights in the lab cast a ghostly glow over every object in the lab. Fiendish looking shadows were cast by rows of jagged broken glass, and large metal plates hanging out of the ceiling swung eerily. The vibration in the mountain caused them to swing and creak, and as the rumbling became more audible, Ashley became more and more nervous. A jolting crash was heard as one of the hanging panels broke free and fell to the floor, creating a jolting din. Ashley jumped, feeling her heart pounding in her chest.

"Come on Tanis, be alright!" she whispered to herself. "I don't think I can stay around much longer."

The shaking began to become loud in Ashley's ear, and the pools of liquid on the floor left over from Tanis' tank were quivering madly. Ashley was on the tips of her nerves, ready to bolt at the slightest provocation. When the door to the med bay slid open behind her, she jolted around expectantly.

Tanis still sat there unconscious, but the small LED screen on the device read "No unfixed medical anomalies detected."

"Holy crap! What am I going to do now?" Ashley said aloud. She pulled Tanis out of the tube and began to hobble back over to the door, but whatever was causing the rumbling finally snapped. The tunnel outside the door collapsed with a great booming sound. Rock met rock forcefully and a cloud of dust rushed into the lab to further panic Ashley.

"God no! I'm going to die in here!" Ashley shouted, dropping Tanis and rushing over to the rock pile outside the door.

Ashley frantically grabbed and pulled smaller stones away, tossing them randomly, not caring where they went. But it became clear her efforts were futile, there was one large rock that eclipsed the entire tunnel, it would take a jackhammer yto break through it. The rumbling clamored up again through the stone, strong enough to cause Ashley to lose her balance and fall backwards. There was a great slamming sound on the other side of the obstructing boulder and Ashley felt the ambient heat in the room rise considerably. She stood back up and felt the boulder; it was now hot to the touch. Doubting what her mind knew to be true, Ashley continued to try to pull rocks away from the boulder to break free despite the signs that magma now laid on the other side.

The heat became more and more intense as Ashley scrambled at the rocks, and once it became strong enough to make her feel the signs of heat stroke coming on, she slowed and decided to stop after pulling one more rock away. When she did, she saw a faint red glow underneath it. The rocks under it were glowing hot at the threshold of melting, and Ashley finally accepted the fact that there was no way out. She stepped back away from the pile and into the lab, looking on in despair. The red glow increased in intensity, catching her attention. She looked over at the control panel for the lab's thick steel door, and decided it would be wise to close it. She pressed the arrow button pointing downwards and the three inch plate of solid steel slid down soundlessly and clicked with the floor. It was cooler inside the room, but Ashley wondered how much time she had bought herself to live.

Ashley had her first real nervous breakdown as she sat inside the lab, waiting for her death to come. The ambient temperature steadily rose in the room, and the door to the lab emitted heat. The rumbling in the floor would occasionally crescendo into a great roar and then quickly subside again, as if teasing Ashley to make her think her death were coming sooner. Tanis remained limp and comatose on the floor, his robotic arm twitching off and on. The mountain groaned and rumbled around them, threatening to collapse at any moment. An especially loud crash just outside the door to the lab made Ashley tightly squelch her eyes closed, expecting to be bather in lava. When it didn't happen, she opened her eyes to see the door still intact. But it had begun to glow faintly, a muted red light that was stronger at the seams of the door. The lava must have broken through the boulder and been stopped at the door. Ashley's mind teetered on the brink of losing control, her terror gripping her mind and soul. She could only watch as the door's glow slowly gained intensity and brightness. Her deathly concentration was broken when she heard Tanis suddenly gasp behind her.

Tanis slowly sat up and looked at Ashley, bewilderment in his deep purple eyes. "What happened? What's going on?" He asked, his voice echoing in Ashley's mind without sound.

"We need to get out of here! We're trapped in the room and lava's about to break through our only escape rout to boil us alive!" Ashley said hysterically.

Tanis simply glanced over at the glowing red door, and Ashley's mind failed to comprehend what he was thinking. "Don't just sit there! You've got to do something! You're the one with the amazing powers, not me!"

"Though a portion of my abilities has been restored by my rest, I'm afraid I am still unable to stop such a mighty lava flow." Tanis said.

"Then what are we going to do?" Ashley screamed.

"I'm going to do something my father taught me in his recording messages, I'm going to teleport us out of danger. But before I can, I need to have seen the place I am going to. I'll need to read your mind to see a place that is safe." Tanis said, still remaining calm as the steel of the door began to soften.

"Don't dawdle then! Do it now! We're about to die!" Ashley said, her voice going out of control.

Ashley felt a cool, calm presence enter her mind. It was like someone had injected her with ice water. It flitted through her memories and then was gone. The steel door began to distend and morph inward as the pressure of the magma warped its softened form.

"Does the place known as Saffron City suffice?" Tanis asked.

"It doesn't matter! You could take us to Cinnabar Island if you wanted to, just get us to safety! Ashley screamed again.

"Very well then." Tanis said, and they were suddenly gone. A blink of energy lit up the lab for a brief moment and then was gone. But a few moments later the door gave way and thousands of gallons of molten rock poured into the lab, finally reclaiming it all for the Earth once more.

**Chapter VI – R2**

Kalana and Ruru sat at the Elder's Common Table in the center of the Gerudo Castle. Over the years of Gerudo advancement and strenuous labor, the people of the Desert had slowly converted their arid homeland into productive farmlands The lands west of Gerudo Valley had been painstakingly converted, pushing sands out and replacing them with workable soil. The Gerudos were able to pursue professions other than thieving and trade, and as they became more docile people they had no need to keep their fortress. So they converted the fortress of the olden days into a splendorous Castle that rivaled Hyrule Castle itself. In the main hall of the Castle, Ruru watched as her older sister contemplated the political quandary that lie ahead of all of them.

"I honestly don't know what to do." Kalana said sighing and pressing her face into her hands. "I don't believe that Sirpala would sacrifice a long standing alliance with our people just because of a few empty threats, but now she's acting like she might actually do just that. If war were to break upon these fair lands, both of our people could lose everything we've worked for over centuries."

Several thoughts ran through Ruru's mind. It seemed to her that there was more at work here than just political intrigue, but her mind couldn't put a finger on it. She could sense something odd in the atmosphere, something unbalanced in the energy around her. She knew Kalana could sense it as well, they were both descendants of the Spirit Sage, and they were more attuned to the world around them than typical people. Whenever she tried to pinpoint it however, it was if her mind was suddenly swaddled in mists, and her thoughts became muddled and distracted. She turned to her sister to see if she were having the same problem.

Kalana stared blankly into the air before shaking her head again. "I can't feel anything, just confusion in my thoughts." She said.

Ruru sighed and stared down at the Common Table. The rich maple wood imported from the Kokiri forest was varnished handsomely and had a deep, rich amber color. The tantalizing smell of sweet potatoes drifted through the air, catching both sisters' attention and making their stomachs grumble to life. A sudden creaking sound pierced the calm air as the door to the Elder's chamber opened. Three Gerudo women arrived, followed by three men of unknown race or creed.

"Elder Kalana, my I present you Anmor Issyth, Emissary of the Kingdom of Iress." The leading Gerudo said and stepped away.

Anmor was a stunning man, and not as much for his handsome charm. His hair was flaming red, his skin tanned almost as much as a Gerudo's, and he had deep purple eyes that seemed to pierce the soul. He was wearing a full set of plate mail armor over his body with a crimson red cloak that flowed across the floor like a river of blood in his wake. The handle of an extraordinarily large sword was at his side. His two bodyguards had the same red hair, dark skin and purple eyes, but they did not wear the same garb as their leader.

"The wise Elder Kalana, I presume." Anmor said, and bowed respectfully before the still seated Kalana.

Kalana practically popped out of her seat and bowed to the Emissary in return. "It is an honor to meet you sir. Please, take a seat."

Anmor sat in the seat on the opposite side of the rounded table facing Kalana. Ruru felt magic power emanating from him, and she held an air of awe around her. Anmor's two bodyguards sat on either side of him, and he smiled at Kalana casually as if he had known her for years.

"Iress, I have never heard of your kingdom before. Might I ask if you have traveled far?" Kalana asked professionally.

"Quite a long distance actually," Anmor said pausing slightly. "Only across the vastness of the what your people call the Western Sea."

The tension in the air became palpable as Kalana was totally thrown off of her thought process. Ruru felt herself start to sweat and she couldn't stop staring into Anmor's eyes. Those unbelievably purple eyes had seemed innocent, even affable at first, but now Ruru saw something underneath their appearance. She saw a shiftiness like that of one who is plotting in his head, and Anmor was staring straight at Kalana with enough power in the empty expression on his face to frighten children.

"So, you've met with Sirpala, the leader of our Nation wide alliance?" Kalana asked, obviously straining to restrain her emotions.

"Oh only once, she seemed flippant and disrespectful at best. However, I have not come here to discuss the hospitality of politicians, I am here to make a proposal to you and your people. I am willing to offer your people recognition as an official government if and only if you throw off your old alliance with that savage Abaim and his band of ruffians."

This was all that Kalana could take. It was plainly obvious that the Iressians were trying to cause a war within Hyrule, and Kalana wouldn't stand for it.

"What do you take me for?" Kalana shouted, jumping to her feet and slamming the table with her fists. "Hyrule has been a united realm for hundreds of years, and here you would ask me to throw that away for fickle friendship from a country that is hundreds of miles across a sea?"

"Do not take my words lightly." Anmor said, his cheerful tone replaced by a cold, chilling growl. "You cannot possibly comprehend the death and destruction that teeters above your head. My leader and King, Lord Rirsh, commands a standing army of over 30,000 men on ships not too far out to sea. Should you do something unfortunate, then a tide of devastation will wash out from sea and onto your lands."

"Do you expect me to believe such an exaggeration? It is impossible to send an army that large over such distances! You are clearly bluffing and I can see through it clear as day." Kalana shouted.

Ruru could see Anmor fingering his sword, and chills of panic ran down her spine.

"Very well then." Anmor said, suddenly standing up and regaining his composure. "I have made you my offer and you have refused. I have no further reason to stay and talk with you. Your band of thieves and dirty farmers are not worthy of survival."

Before Kalana could react, Anmor and his men had already gotten up and swept out of the door. His cape swept through the door, falling to the ground in an undignified manner, almost like a pool of draining gore. There was silence for a moment before Kalana spoke.

"We need to talk to Sirpala, right now."

**Chapter VII – I2**

"There it is, the telltale signature." Kraden said, pointing down at the bottom of the stone tablet.

Three simple letters had been etched into the ancient relic, "AWH". It was Alex's way of taunting Isaac and his party as they pursued him across the land.

"I can't believe it!" Jenna said furiously, her crimson hair flowing around her in the wind. "We've been chasing the maniac for three months since the collapse of Mt. Aleph, and with our flying ship we still can't catch him!"

The winds blowing through the inner sanctum of Air's rock whipped at Isaacs band of weary adventurers, and each felt the frustration and disappointment of having failed to catch the villain Alex once more. His plot to collect the four elemental psynergies from each corner of the world was about to be complete, he had now visited every one of the elemental mountains except Magma rock. Time was running out now for them, if Alex obtained the fourth and last psynergy from Magma Rock he would be powerful enough to conquer Weyward.

"We'd better leave now if we hope to catch Alex before he reaches Magma Rock." Felix said, frowning at the crude letters that had been carved in the monolith which contained the Reveal psynergy. "He will already have gotten a significant head start by now."

"No matter how fast we fly or how quickly we run, he always keeps one step ahead of us!" Jenna fumed as the 9 adventurers turned to leave Air's Rock.

"It's not our fault though Jenna," Isaac said, "He has that unique teleportation psynergy. No matter how limited it is, he can still use it to elude us. He might very well be jut outside Air's Rock right now."

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." Ivan said, smiling over at Jenna and Isaac.

Once Isaac and company finally made it back through the mazes inside Air's rock, they found not trace of Alex. Isaac remained quiet, sighing and worrying about what would happen to his family if he should fail. He had left his parents in the Town of Vault near the Aleph Crater, but they would not be safe from Alex even if he hid them in the deepest tunnels of Ancient Lemuria.

Another two days of sailing passed as the party flew West toward the continent of Gondowan, and another day was spent flying North over the continent itself. Magma Rock loomed in the distance, promising a last minute success or total failure. When they finally reached the base of the Fiery Mountain itself, they landed their ship on the flat terrain making use of its flattened belly. Once inside the mountain, they found a scene of destruction that shocked and horrified them.

The once ordered and methodical channels and mechanisms designed for harnessing the lava flows had been utterly destroyed. Steel lock doors were literally ripped off of their hinges and tossed crumpled to the steaming ground. Control mechanisms were shredded and scattered like confetti. One whole room had completely collapsed, lava had crashed through from the ceiling and hardened into stone. Isaac was unsure what could have done this, but Kraden knew.

"It was Alex." Kraden said morosely.

The other eight party members turned and stared at the wizened old scholar. "How is that possible?" Piers asked, confounded.

"Surely he's not this powerful already?" Sheba said, still staring down at a steel door that had been used to crudely prop a boulder up to open a passage.

"I'm afraid so. I'm afraid this is only a sample of what will happen if we don't get to the final tablet before he does." Kraden said, sighing in worry.

"We must hurry, we may be too late already!" Felix said, grabbing onto Garet's arm and pulling.

The party moved as quickly as they could through the devastated rooms. The tests that had been designed here to deter those unworthy had been simply crushed under the power that Alex now possessed. Isaac and his companions were able to run through the mazes quickly because they had been solved brutally via holes through the walls. Panic began to set in as the companions neared the inner sanctum of the mountain where the Fire psynergy blaze rested. As they turned round the corner and saw the pathway to the ancient door, the familiar blue haired figure of Alex was trying to force his way into the chamber. There were great scorched marks on the door, and the rock wall had been chipped and smashed at, but apparently the door's seal had defeated Alex so far. The ruthless Mercury Adept turned and faced his party of pursuers.

"So you've finally caught up with me? It took you long enough!" Alex laughed. "I suppose you'll be wanting the Stone of Sages then?"

"You know what we're here for!" Jenna shouted.

"My, you don't know what you're up against now do you my dear Jenna? I've changed a lot since we last met in battle." Alex said, smirking at Jenna as she burned with rage.

"It was obvious by what you've done to this hallowed place!" Isaac said. "I wonder how you have the courage to spit in the face of greater powers like this."

"My friend, the only greater power here is me." Alex said. "I've become even more powerful than the Wise One himself now! If you wish to spend your lives trying to stop me now, then I won't object. Just don't say I didn't warn you."

The battle began in the blink of an eye. Alex handled the sword blows from all eight fighters with ease, throwing them backwards and slashing at them with a deadly grace that none of them had ever seen. Kraden could only watch in horror as Isaac's friends were cut down one by one before hardly any time had passed. In desperation, Garet called upon his Djinni to summon a meteor from deep space. The four glowing red spirits danced happily and wisps of red energy left their physical bodies swiftly.

"Garet no!" Isaac shouted, but it was too late.

A colossal sphere of stone the size of a house rocketed down from the atmosphere, screaming down toward Magma Rock. Alex roared in anger and made a dash for the inner sanctum door and tried to smash through it again. He needed to get the last fire psynergy and escape the mountain alive. The door did not budge and Alex felt the breath leave his lungs in shock as a cold blade entered the flesh of his back. He looked back to see Jenna holding the Masamune sword in his spine, and his legs suddenly gave out underneath him. In a rage he used his psynergy to create a great spire of ice and flung it at Jenna. Jenna was impaled over the cold spear, she flew backwards and hit the wall hard. The ice shaft shattered and shards punctured her further inside and out. With a roar of Revenge Isaac charged at the disabled Alex with the Darksword. The blackened blade emitted a chilling tone as it cast the spell of Acheron's Grief. The spiritual embodiment of the first river of hell appeared as a great purple sword that pierced Alex's body through. As Alex slowly raised his hand to deal a return blow to Isaac, the meteor struck the summit of Magma Rock.

The natives of Kibombo to the East and the Settlers on the Western shores of Gondowan all watched in awe and terror as the great ball of fire descended upon the holy landmark of fire's power, and the ground shook for miles as the secrets of the blaze psynergy were lost forever in an ironic fate.

**Chapter 8 – T2**

The majestic spires of the human city gracefully appeared to Tanis as he and Ashley appeared in the streets. He stared up in marvel at the great steel and glass towers, enthralled in seeing them in person for the first time in his life. He could feel the energies of all the humans around him, the air teeming with their thoughts. Their life energies pulsed steadily around him, their thoughts echoed in his head. He was jerked out of his trance by someone pulling on his left arm.

"Tanis, we need to make ourselves inconspicuous! People are staring at you!" Ashley said urgently.

Indeed it was true. Tanis saw humans driving past in their vehicles turn to gawk at him. It wasn't an unexpected reaction either, Tanis's physical form alone was terrifying to any witness. The fact that he had a robotic right arm didn't help either. People gaped through storefront windows and stopped in their cars to see.

"Then where shall we go?" Tanis asked.

"Read my mind again and find a less populated place to take us to. I understand you didn't have the time to find a safe location, but now that we don't have magma about to cook us, take the time you need." Ashley said, grabbing him by the arm and taking him away from the street down an alley.

Tanis again reached into the young girl's mind, fighting off the emotions that existed there. Her mind's feelings and memories seemed into his mind as he searched it, and it was the ultimate experience in taking a walk in another's shoes. He found a beauteous blue lake buried deep in the farthest recesses of her memory. Without consulting Ashley on it, Tanis teleported the both of them there. He was very eager to see the splendor of this world that his father had mentioned.

The dark alleyway melted away around them as they moved through minor dimensions for instantaneous travel. The lake smeared into being and solidity and Tanis marveled at the exquisite scene before them. Rows of mountains formed a gigantic circular wall around them, and inside these walls was a great forest that spread all the way down to the shores of the lake. In the center of the lake was a very small island with a pointed top. The sun shone down intensely from the middle of the sky, and brooding storm clouds hung in the distance to the west.

"I know this place." Ashley said mutedly. She stood silent for a moment to take in the sights. "My father took me here four years ago, this is Purity Canyon!"

Something rang a bell in the back of Tanis's mind, but he could not place it.

"This was where my father took me to tell me his story of his encounter with your father. I don't remember much of the tales except that the Canyon had been obliterated on the outside by Mewtwo in order to destroy the Team Rocket forces in the area. He took the lake underground and then left for many years, not to be seen by a living soul. Then one day my father is passing through and he discovers that somehow, the lake and its surrounding forest were restored to their original places here in the Canyon Crater."

"Yes, I remember now. He told me the tale in one of his recorded messages while I was asleep in the lab. He said that it was his last gift to humanity, to allow them a second chance for using the springs potent healing properties." Tanis said. "I'm surprised the place has not yet been overrun by the sick and dying seeking aide from the springs."

"I'm sure the government has figured a way to distribute the water evenly."

There was a long, strained pause as both girl and Pokemon searched for something to say next. Tanis wondered if Ashley would go her own way now that they had no further purpose of being together. He had saved her life from the magma, and she had found him a safe spot to stay in the world away from prying eyes. The silence was unbearable for both of them as the forced themselves to gaze upon the lake.

"So... where to now?" Ashley asked.

"I think that it would be wise to seek the other two golden triangles that we encountered in my father's burial chamber. I felt an extraordinary power coming from them, and it appears to me that those black clad men were attempting to steal them." Tanis said, reflecting on his first few hours of life and wondering how his next few would turn out.

"Well, I have already succeeded in my goal to defeat the Elite Four, and there will always be another chance to capture Entei." Ashley said, staring wistfully at nowhere.

"Do you consider me your Pokemon and yourself a trainer?" Tanis suddenly asked, his mind riddled with curiosity. Though his father had told him about the way Pokemon training worked, Tanis had never witnessed the system in action.

"Would that sort of thing make you happy? My father said that of what he remembers of Mewtwo was that he despised the thought of even associating with human trainers until his later years." Ashley replied tentatively.

"I'm not sure about it, I would like to see how the social interactions in such a relationship function," Tanis said. "But I have drifted from the subject. I am going to pursue the two golden triangles, would you care to accompany me?"

"It sounds like an impossibly hard task, and how can you know where to look for them?" Ashley asked, wondering what was going on in the cryptic creature's head.

"When I was unconscious, I heard voices. They told me that I had only earned the right to the Third of that artifact that represented courage. If I wanted to find the other two pieces, they were scattered across two other lands and one in a completely different time period. They said that I had to find these worlds myself, but there were still clues yet to be found here on Earth as to their location." Tanis said.

"I bet those clues are somehow connected to those strange men who were raiding your father's burial chamber!" Ashley exclaimed. "Could you trace where they were sent from with your powers?"

"Even my father's powers had limits at their peak, and I have yet to grow as powerful as him. I'm afraid we're going to have to figure this out on our own." Tanis said.

"Ok ok, these people were obviously organized," Ashley said, working into a strain of thought. "They weren't random or opportunistic grave robbers, they had a mission on their minds and they seemed awfully determined on getting into your father's sarcophagus. Did your father in his messages tell you about any people who might have done something like this?"

Tanis sat silently, running through his few memories like one flips through a binder full of papers. "He told me of the men who created him originally, those of the Criminal Syndicate Team Rocket. He told me of their unparalleled greed and evil, but he said that he had wiped all of their memories. I don't think it would be them."

"Are you sure?" Ashley said, her face brightening suddenly. "If they created your father in a laboratory, then they must have kept extensive records of him that would be recovered after the memory wipe. Suppose they rediscovered your father and searched for him? Perhaps they just finally found his grave after we found each other?"

Tanis frowned in thought and blinked his deep purple eyes once. "I suppose that is possible. From what father said, they are power obsessed enough to dedicate these amounts of time to finding him or even his remains."

"Then we should do an investigation," Ashley said, standing energetically. "We should find someone related to Team Rocket, disarm his little belt bomb before he can use it, and then you can read his mind to find out more!"

Tanis stood up as well and smiled. "It is a fine plan. My father would be glad to see me doing good in the world."

A/N: Many interesting developments here, writing parallel storylines is so much fun! What will happen next? Will Isaac and co. make it out of Magma Rock alive? Will Iress incite war between the nations of Hyrule? And just what will Ashley and Tanis uncover about Team Rocket? Keep the reading and reviewing up, it's good to know you guys are enjoying the stories!


	5. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 4

**Legacies  
**A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Hmm, things eased up a bit over the last week or two. I've been really getting into this story now, it's really enjoyable. If I can keep this pace, I'll have the next chunk in a week and a half or so. But, knowing my school the workload will increase again. Wish me luck!

**Chapter IX – R3**

"What do you mean, the Hylian Unity Council has been disbanded?" Kalana shouted at the Hylian messenger. Ruru felt a spike of adrenaline jolt her system at those words.

"Just as I said milady," The messenger replied, "Queen Sirpala has announced that the Hylian Unity Council is henceforth null and all peace treaties between the Gerudos and Hylians have been terminated. So have the treaties between the Hylians and Sheikah, as well as the treaties between the Hylians and Gorons. You have one week to remove all your people from Hylian territory or they will be detained indefinitely."

"You've said all that I need to know. Leave now." Kalana said gruffly to the young Hylian man. "Oh, and tell Sirpala that if I see any of her soldiers intruding on our lands, we won't hesitate to do the same to them as she has threatened to do to ours."

The messenger scurried down the hallway like a plague ridden rodent and Kalana slammed the door in her rage. Dust spiraled through the air of the Great Hall and seven other Gerudos in the opposite side of the room stopped and stared.

"She's done everything short of declaring war on us!" Kalana snarled at no-one in particular. The dust shuddered and spiraled through the sunbeams that were lancing down from windows in the vaulted ceiling. "Who does she think she is to do this to us? Her army is disorganized and shorthanded! Surely she doesn't think to take us on along with the Gorons and the Sheikah?"

"She's relying on the Iresians," Ruru said, "She is counting on the 30,000 soldiers that Anmor has been flaunting."

"She's a royal fool!" Kalana growled, slowly lowering her voice. "Anmor is a terrible liar, I could see it in his braggart's eyes. He's drawing Sirpala into her own undoing. I can't tell what his motives are, but I know that it is impossible to transport an army that great over a body of water as vast as the Western Sea. He's bringing Sirpala straight to her demise."

"But, you wouldn't have Sirpala killed would you?" Ruru asked, shocked at the violent tone that Kalana was using.

"I wouldn't out of pity for her falling into Anmor's trap, but I don't think that Abaim would share the same sympathy. The Sheikah have not been known for their generous hearts over the past few decades. If Sirpala gives him reason to, he will try her for treason against the people of Hyrule and have her executed."

"There must be some way to prevent a war." Ruru said.

"If there is, then we will have to work hard to find it. Anmor and the Iresians seem hell-bent on dividing Hyrule, and I can't figure out why. They could be looking for an opportunity to seize political control, but if he supports Sirpala in a war against other Hylian peoples then he will be hard-pressed to get anyone behind him." Kalana said, sitting down next to Ruru to think a moment.

"Could he be doing this for any sort of personal gain?" Ruru asked.

"What would he gain from inciting this war? Hyrule's treasury of gold is dangerously low as it is and Hyrule's resources are starting to get thin. If the Hylian nation is destroyed he will have little material gain from it."

"There is something driving him though, I could see it in his eyes. They craved power, and it looked to me like he would do anything for even the smallest amount." Ruru said.

"I know, I could sense it too. He reeked of bloodlust, and the way that he wore his battle gear to meet us made it even more obvious. But the only real power in all of this land lies in the hands of the Zoras. The Zoran mages are some of the most powerful wielders of magic in this world, but so far he has not made any sort of gesture toward Iona or her people."

"But," Ruru said, "He has not incited any hostilities between them and the Hylians either!"

Kalana blinked and sat silent for a moment. By now the Great Hall was empty again, and the golden beams of sunlight were changing angles as the sun moved across the sky. "You might be on to something dear sister. He might want the power of the Zoran mages for himself!"

"But if Sirpala were to declare war against us, the Zoras would aid her. They could be lost in the fighting if Iona were to make a tactical blunder. She's still new to leading a people." Ruru said.

"It sounds like Anmor likes to live to live dangerously. That is, if obtaining the Zoran mages is his true goal at all. We might be totally wrong, and a war is still yet to happen. Fate might have something else in store for us." Kalana said, staring up at the shining windows that lined the glorious ceiling.

Suddenly, the door to the great hall was flung open and a panting Gerudo raced up to the table.

"Milady Elder! Queen Iona of the Zoras is here to meet you!"

"Don't just stand there panting, show her in!" Kalana said, surprise evident in her voice.

A procession of five of the pale skinned Zoras appeared at the door, the young Queen Iona at the front with two attendants on either side. The golden sunlight glimmered off of her damp skin. She left darkened footprints of moisture on the sand floor.

"Iona, what brings you to honor our halls?" Kalana asked, standing and bowing to the majestic young Queen.

"I've heard word that the Hylians have snubbed you and your people." Iona said, sitting and gesturing for Kalana to sit. "I've come to assure you that the Zoras will not do the same."

Ruru could almost feel the barrow cart of stress that had been lifted off of her older sister. "It is a most gratifying thing to hear Lady Iona, these past few days have not bode well for the unity of our land."

"I know, Anmor of the Iresians has met with me twice. He has attempted to create a rift between the Zoras and the Sheikah by threatening me. He has only mentioned the Gerudos as a side note, expressing mild disdain for you and your people as well as the Gorons. It appears the elimination of the Sheikah is his prime objective, and he is intent on crushing anyone who gets in his way."

"Don't tell me you've been taken in by his deceitful tongue as well!" Kalana said.

"No, I hardly believe his claims either. My people know the ways of the sea and its effects on people who dwell solely upon the land. It would be an incredible feat for him to have lead an army across the Western sea and still have it fit for battle. And I have yet to meet their true leader, King Rirsh, who has already met with Lady Sirpala several times."

"Yet you've been appeasing Anmor's wants for an alliance with him?" Kalana asked.

"Nay, I have only kept him hanging with lingering promises of Zora aid. I've surrounded him with luxuries and royal gifts to appease him, but I have managed to not commit to anything. Unfortunately, Sirpala has already disbanded the Hylian Unity Council and thrown all of her kingdom's support behind the Iresians."

"Yes I've heard, not hardly twenty minutes ago did a Hylian messenger bring me this very news."

"It is an ill omen indeed, but know that you, the Gorons and the Sheikah will always have the support of our mages should worse come to worse."

"You have my unending gratitude." Kalana said.

Just then, the doors swung open once more and the same Gerudo woman dashed into the room. "I'm sorry to interrupt Your Highnesses, but Dregar of the Gorons is here to meet with you."

"Well show him in then!" Kalana said, annoyance now ringing in her voice.

Dregar came alone, he needed to guards with his massive muscular body and rocklike Goron skin. A Goron alone could defeat several armed soldiers. There were small craters in the sand floor where his massive feet collided with the ground.

"I cannot believe this!" The immense Goron said. "How dare Sirpala sever the treaties that have tied our people for three hundred years! I knew as soon as she took the Hylian crown that nothing good would come from her!"

"Calm yourself Dregar!" Iona said. "I was just telling Elder Kalana of my people's support for her! You should be calm in knowing that you will have our mages backing your people in battle!"

"Aye, though your mages and my fighters make an unstoppable force together, I'm still worried about what will happen to the Hylian Kingdom should war come and we are forced to depose Sirpala. There are currently no more living heirs to the Hylian throne to succeed her, the entire land could be thrown into chaos!" Dregar said, scowling and cracking his knuckles.

"Indeed, and there is no telling what Abaim could do should the Hylian throne be want of someone to sit in it." Iona said.

"I think," Ruru said, "That we're over thinking this entire situation. We don't know yet if Anmor will incite any conflict or not."

Dregar glared at Ruru venomously. "Who are you to tell us what to think young apprentice? Wait until you were the Tiara of an Elder before trying to council with us."

"But she's right, we need to lie low over the next few days and see what happens." Kalana said, rallying to her sister's aid.

Dregar shrugged and sighed heavily. "I suppose if Iona agrees."

"Yes, I believe it a wise course of action." Iona said gracefully.

"Then, I guess there's no more reason to stay here then. I should be off back to the mountain before the mines grind to a halt without my supervision." Dregar said.

"I should be leaving as well," Iona said, "The dryness of this area makes me feel unhealthy. I look forward to our next meeting."

It was one of the oddest days Ruru had ever seen, and a part of her wondered if she had dreamed the whole thing. The two Delegates that had come stayed for such an incredibly short time, it was uncharacteristic of them. She could now see stress evident in her older sister's eyes, she had never handled a crisis like this before. All of this taken together created a pit of worry in the stomach of the young apprentice as she tucked into bed that night, she was feeling her sister's worries in an empathic bond that neither realized yet.

**Chapter X – I3**

The first sensation that leaked into Isaac's comatose mind was the feeling of pain. It was a slow, burning pain that was coming from his left leg. As he gradually regained consciousness, the pain intensified. When he opened his eyes, all he saw was darkness and a faint red glow radiating from somewhere in the periphery of his vision. He could hear slow rumbling like that of a small earthquake nearby. He tried to move his body and he suddenly realized the trap he was in.

Isaac's body was completely closed in by rock in every direction. There was a jagged piece of rock piercing his right leg as well, hence the pain. He suddenly remembered the summon that Garet had called forth and everything made sense in his mind. He was trapped, buried under what could be hundreds of feet of stone. Most likely his companions were all dead and he would be soon as well. Not being one to give in to the inevitable so easy however, Isaac began to try to manipulate the stone around him with his earth magics.

The great jagged rocks around him shook and quaked as Isaac tried to move them, but his psynergy was not powerful enough and he was tapped soon after starting. He sighed heavily and settled back to think. His hand randomly wandered around the dark crevice that he was occupying, trying to find weaknesses anywhere. His hand suddenly stumbled upon the hilt of his blade, the Darksword. He nearly laughed in glee for his good fortune and pulled the weapon free from the rocks. Feeling it the dark, he checked to see if it was undamaged. Luckily the sword was unharmed, and Isaac knew he could try and use it.

He would probably cause a collapse of rock that would kill him, but Isaac didn't want to go quietly, he wanted to at least die trying to escape. He pointed the sword directly up at the rock above him and shouted, "Acheron's Grief!"

The great magic blade appeared at Isaac's command once more. It speared its was up from the depths and sliced up through the rock and past Isaac's disabled form. With a trail of swirling rocks left behind it, the spirit sword continued upward through the stone and Isaac watched with a hopeful heart. As the sound faded away and eventually stopped, a faint light filtered down from the tunnel Acheron's Blade had created.

His heart swelling with new hope, Isaac suddenly tried to craw over to the light, but pain slashed up and down his leg. He looked back into the dark, frowning at the rock that had skewered his leg. Not giving up, Isaac turned back toward the tunnel and filled his lungs as full as he could. He shouted as loudly as he could, crying for help and hoping someone on the surface would hear him. He sat and waited silently, listening for a response. When none came, he let out another great shout that was deafeningly loud to him in the small space. The rocks all shuddered around him, and Isaac suddenly sensed that expedience had just become a factor of his situation.

After calling several more times, Isaac heard a sharp crack behind him. The rock was shifting, and with another pronounced crack the rock in his leg suddenly shattered loose from the rest of the stone. A few small rocks suddenly fell from the ceiling of the cramped space and one hit Isaac smartly on his head. He felt a lump growing on his head and scrambled toward the escape tunnel. He could feel heat building up around him and his mind suddenly danced with images of him being incinerated by magma. He began attempting to climb, but found his right leg unusable due to the large piece of rock that had severed most of the tendons and snapped the bone. But he hadn't given up before and he wasn't about to now. He climbed slowly and in a staggered fashion using only his left leg, continuing to shout for help along the way.

Isaac had climbed almost 20 feet up the 100 foot shaft when a sharp explosion rocked the earth around him. He saw red light suddenly flood up from underneath him and his feet suddenly felt very hot. Doubling his pace, Isaac felt adrenaline pumping through his body. The pain in his leg suddenly dulled underneath his terror of being char-broiled. He climbed with his bad leg clumsily, and as the clear sunlight above slowly came closer and closer, Isaac suddenly lost his grip on the rock wall and fell backwards back down the shaft.

The stone seemed to fly past Isaac in slow motion as he finally came to accept his inevitable fate. He was grateful that he had been able to save the world once before, and mourned his own coming death and the apparent deaths of his friends. As the light above shrank and the light below intensified, Isaac felt the heat on his back increase to painful levels. He turned to face the bottom as he plummeted towards it, the magma below was bubbling in an almost welcoming fashion. He opened his arms to embrace death and suddenly something happened that he could not comprehend in the small amount of time that it occurred in. A powerful arm suddenly grasped him across the chest, gripping his armor and stopping his fall. The rock and magma suddenly melted away into a black void that swirled in front of his eyes. It swirled into the form of an above ground scene, in which rocky devastation covered the ground and patches of smoke rose sullenly. The arm let go of Isaac who suddenly fell to the solid ground face first.

Isaac quickly stood and looked to see his rescuer. He was shocked beyond words to see that enigmatic, blue haired adept named Alex, standing there and looking smug at him.

"Alex......why?" Isaac stuttered, too surprised to form a sentence.

"Simple my friend, I want your Djinni!" Alex said, pointing at the stout little brown creatures studding Isaac's armor.

"Listen, I appreciate what you've done for me, but our goals are still opposite and I will not give you my Djinni." Isaac said resolutely.

"That's ok," Alex said nonchalantly, "I didn't expect you to hand them over willingly. It will be easy to take them by force."

Alex reached down to his belt, brushing his cape aside. Isaac saw that every Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter Djinn were now in Alex's possession. The only ones that were missing were the ones that Isaac was wearing right now.

"What have you done with my friends?" Isaac shouted, rage boiling over into his mind.

"Oh they're all right if that's what you're worried about. It was quite easy to convince them to give me their Djinn, I just told them I was holding you hostage. It was true in a way, while they and I had escaped Magma Rock's remains alive and well, there was no sign of you. I knew where you were and I chose not to tell them, favoring the hostage story instead. Now I've got all but eight of all the world's Djinni and it's all thanks to you!" Alex laughed.

"I'll make you pay for this!" Isaac growled, fingering the hilt of the Darksword. "I gave you a taste of my blade's power before and I'll do it again."

"I healed myself with psynergy before and I can do that again too! Let's face it, a battle between us would be a war of attrition, the victor being the one with the most psynergy and Djinni. I think we both know who will win." Alex said, his voice laden with a tone that could almost be described as patronizing.

There was a brief silence between the two as they waited for the other to make their move. When at last Isaac took the initiative to attack, he unleashed the Ground Djinn to paralyze Alex. Alex suddenly jolted stiff as a board and toppled over and Isaac ran up to stab the Darksword into him. Isaac had time to puncture Alex three times before Alex recovered and retaliated with an attack of his own. Unleashing the Mercury Djinn Hail, Alex knocked Isaac off of his feet with a blizzard of ice bits and freezing water. Isaac rolled to a stop and jumped to his feet. He raised the Darksword to call on Acheron's Grief once more, but this time Alex was ready. He knew exactly the right time to jump to the side to dodge the great purple blade that fell from the sky to try and skewer him. He dodged it with ease and unleashed the Mars Djinn Fury.

Fury floated up into the air and released a torrent of fireballs that took the shapes of skulls. Isaac was thrown backwards by the torrent of rearing pain. He rolled and stood up again, concentrating some newly regenerated psynergy power to use one of his natural healing abilities. It was at this time that something incredible happened. The third ship, the one that carried the men who had interfered with Isaac's earlier attempts to capture Alex, had just landed. He and Alex both turned to look and saw twenty of the familiar black clad men jump down from the ship. They moved like lightning, surrounding the two fighters in a circle before they could react.

"Give us your Djinni." One of the men hissed, his voice like that of a snake's hiss.

"Ha, do you take me for a fool? I just went through to much trouble to get them for myself!" Alex said, a devious grin on his face.

"You resist, then you will suffer." The man hissed, and suddenly the gang of the marauders moved in unison in an all out assault.

Isaac was completely outclass by the swordsmanship of these black clad men, he dodged and blocked several blows out of sheer dumb luck. Alex was doing quite well however, his newfound power aiding him quite well. His skills with the sword were on par with the raiding men, they moved in a liquid dance that seemed to merge with the air. That dance was punctuated with multiple explosions as Alex unleashed his psynergy upon the raider, blowing some of them to pieces outright.

When Alex had finished all of the original 20 save for three, then those remaining suddenly bolted off back toward the ship. Alex let out a long, maniacal victory laugh while holding his bloody sword in the air. When finished, Alex turned to the badly injured Isaac and grinned maliciously.

"Although they were annoying to fight, those men made my job easier by weakening you. Now, hand over those Djinn." Alex said.

"I believe that is my line." A deep, evil sounding voice echoed. Alex turned back to the raiders' ship where it had come from to see a dark form rising through the air and hovering toward them.

The figure was completely covered in a blood red cloak and hood, not a part of him was visible underneath it. He landed gently in front of Alex and stood there silently. Alex was almost unnerved for a moment, but his arrogance didn't let it last.

"So, you must be the leader of those black clad brigands?" Alex asked mockingly.

"Yes." The figure said, its voice intoned in an unnaturally low frequency. Alex felt a chill run down his spine, but he concealed it. "Give me your Djinni, now." The figure said again.

"I told it to your buddies and I'll say it to you, no way in hell. I worked to hard to get them and I'm not letting go of them now!" Alex said in condescending tone.

Alex suddenly jerked spasmodically and began hovering into the air; the figure had raised its robed arm and was pointing at Alex. Alex suddenly cried out in pain and struggled against the invisible grip wildly. He flailed in the air for a moment and then was still.

"Will you give me the Djinn now?" The figure asked. Isaac felt waves of fear travel up and down his body with every word that came from the man's hooded mouth.

Alex fixed his eyes on the red robed figure with a new rage. "If it's a contest of power you want, then so be it!" Alex roared, and suddenly glowed a vibrant blue. Whatever had gripped him was thrown off and Alex landed on his feet. He raised a hand toward the figure and shouted multiple psynergy spells. A gigantic wave of water, clusters of ice spears, and several lightning bolts all screamed toward the robed figure. The robed one simply raised his hand and all the spells were deflected. He then glowed a brilliant red and Alex suddenly gripped his own neck and began to choke. Isaac then finally managed to conjure enough willpower to act.

The man in the robe didn't see it coming as Isaac walked up behind him and slipped the Darksword into his back. Alex suddenly relaxed and stopped choking, and a great bellow of pain came from the man in the robe. Alex then rushed forward and stabbed his blade directly into the man's head. A sudden, high pitched scream and then a deep bellow roared from the cloaked figure, and suddenly the cloaks and hood burst into flame. They then oddly dematerialized, exposing what was truly underneath. Alex and Isaac looked in equal fear at the creature beneath the robe for a few moments before it suddenly too burst into flame and rapidly turned into a hunk of blackened charcoal. When the rocky debris field was totally silent and nothing moved, Alex and Isaac looked at each other and then back at the pile of ashes that had been the raid leader. They didn't know what kind of horrible creature it was, but they certainly knew that it wasn't human.

**Chapter X1 - T3**

In the endless blue of Earth's sky, a tiny, almost undetectable object caught Tanis' eye. It was almost too hard for even his finely tuned eyes to see, but he could definitely tell it was there. It looked like a tiny human hair that stretched across the sky, hair thin and black. He traced it across the sky with his eyes, horizon to horizon.

"Look at that." Tanis said, pointing his robotic arm to the sky.

"Not now Tanis, I've almost got this lock." Ashley said.

Ashley and Tanis had intercepted some good intelligence on team rocket earlier that day. Ashley had used her recognition as former League Champion to meet with a man who had claimed to be an ex-team rocket member. They had met on the outskirts of Viridian city, Tanis hidden in a back alley in case the man tried to harm her. He told Ashley that he had left the team ten years ago as it was on the verge of being permanently being disbanded. It had been in turf wars with other syndicates for the last five years and it had suffered several humiliating defeats. He told her the location of the old hideout that he had worked at, and now the two of them were there attempting to infiltrate it.

Ashley mumbled in frustration as she jammed her hair clip into the rusty lock. The building they were trying to access was small and inconspicuous in the industrial section of Viridian City. It blended in with the other analogous concrete edifices that covered the Earth in this region. There was a uniform layer of rust over the dull metal door, making its age evident. Finally, the lock gave up its struggle and clicked open. Ashley had to twist the knob hard to open the door, the rust made the mechanism almost immovable. The door screamed like a banshee as Ashley forced it open, the rust on the hinges cracking and fighting against the motion fiercely. The hallway beyond was night-black, only the light from outside reflected on the concrete walls within.

"Are you ready?" Ashley asked, pulling out her flashlight with new batteries.

Tanis looked down at Ashley and grinned. "I consider myself ready for anything. And, you won't need that either." Tanis lifted his robotic arm and a small slot opened up. Bright white light streamed out, illuminating the hall three times as far as Ashley's flashlight.

"You have a full Swiss Army Knife in there?" Ashley asked, smiling as she pocketed her flashlight.

"I have a sword blade in it, if that's what you mean." Tanis said, not familiar with what a Swiss Army Knife is.

Ashley rolled her eyes. "You can take the lead."

Tanis and Ashley braved the chilling, stale air of the apparently abandoned hideout. Tanis' arm light revealed the long, empty hallways ahead of them as they turned consecutive corners. There were absolutely no doors to be seen as they descended and turned innumerable corners. It was almost like they were inside an inverted pyramid. They passed an area where water dripped out of a crack in the ceiling and pooled on the floor. After passing six more turns in the tunnel, they arrived at a junction. There were two wooden doors and a steel door.

"Pick a door, any door!" Ashley joked.

Tanis walked straight up to the steel door, observed it for a moment, and clenched the fist of his robot arm and punched it. A large, round dent appeared in the door, and Tanis wound up again and took another swing. The dent grew and the door suddenly rattled. Tanis hit it one more time and the hinges snapped under the pressure. The malformed door fell backwards and hit the steel floor beyond with a monumental clang.

Tanis light revealed the room ahead was filled with hundreds of computer towers. There were cords and wires hanging off of the computers and crisscrossing the floor. The rum was humming with the spin of hard drives and the whirring of cooling fans. Small LED lights twinkled on the top of each computer. There was no sign of life anywhere, much like the rest of the hideout. Tanis pressed on into the room, weaving between the whirring towers. Ashley followed swiftly stepping gracefully over the cords. Tanis' foot caught on one suddenly and he almost fell, but he managed to grab one of the computers to catch himself. His robotic hand grasped it and crumpled the plastic casing like a piece of paper.

Once they reached the end of the room, there was nothing to find except a small computer terminal. Dust was layered over the glass lens of the holographic screen projector. Ashley wiped it off and pressed the activation on the terminal. The machine hummed to life and a small burst of light flashed from the projector. It flickered for a moment and projected a solid grey screen into the air. There was a large red "R" in the center of the screen with "Loading" on the bottom. A few moments later, the screen changed to a list of files and a titles displayed on the top, "Team Rocket Historical and Scientific Archives" Ashley and Tanis exchanged glances.

"What should we read?" Ashley asked.

"Well, since these people are the ones who created my father, we should see if we can find their files on him." Tanis said. "Look in the scientific archives."

Ashley reached up and poked at the air where the second archive was projected in. She was more comfortable here than she had been in Tanis' home lab, these were the screens she had always used. The folder opened and encompassed the screen. The file list showed over 800 entries named DataHistory with numeric identification codes next to them.

"These files are named by number; it could take days to find the ones about your father!" Ashley whined, fingering the air where the scroll bar appeared.

Tanis stood silent for a moment. He concentrated his mind on the computer towers that surrounded them, translating their thoughts into ones that he could read. He sifted through scenes of violence, oppression, and greed until he saw an image of his father. "File 79964." He said calmly.

Ashley stared at him for a moment. She shook her head and turned to the screen. "I need to remember you're psychic in more than one way." She said.

Ashley scrolled the screen down for a few minutes until she found the sought file, "Datahistory79964.tri". She double touched it and the screen flickered to lines of code.

/Accessing file Datahistory79964.tri

A/N: Hmmm, interesting callback there eh? I knew I would provoke a lot of thoughts with that prologue, and now hopefully a bunch more have just been created. Lookout for more callbacks like this, it's something that could happen a few more times in this story! Read, review, enjoy, and I'll be happy.


	6. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 5

**Legacies**

**A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths**

By MMM/AJ

A/N: School's turning into a real war for me, and I'm not doing too well on all fronts. I think you guys should know that if I'm gone for an extended period of time, that means my grades might have fallen even lower and my story might fall to the wayside. I'll try not to let that happen, but as of now I need to concentrate harder on schoolwork. Enjoy this chunk well, it could be awhile before the next one.

**Chapter XII - A4**

"Now that's just creepy." Ashley said aloud as she finished reading the file. She exchanged a glance with Tanis, who looked pale as a ghost with astonishment.

"So I'm not the only one of my species?" Tanis said, staring at the flickering screen.

"Apparently not. What should we read next?" Ashley asked quietly.

"Try the next entry following this one." Tanis said.

Ashley still had a hard time getting used to the way he talked in her head without actually making a sound. She touched the air where the back button was being projected, then double touched for the next file.

/Accessing file Datahistory79965.tri

/File opened

/Contents: Recorded History of Project 79965, Codenamed "Proteus"

/Begin File:

Project initiated 10/13/2148, low priority level G

Using cloned brain tissue from Projects 79964, "Ares", and Project 63340, "Mewtwo", machines will be created to attempt to tap the minds of humans. Such machines, given proper input power will be able to produce such feats as information extraction, memory alteration, awareness manipulation, and total mind control. Extensive resource materials of neural interface tissue will be needed for the project to proceed, several clones will need to be created and have their brains removed to create a viable prototype.

This project has been cancelled due to infeasibility.

/End File

"These men are truly insidious." Tanis said. "They would create life like that only to destroy it, all for the gain of power."

"What should we read next?" Ashley asked.

"Go to the historical archives now, we need to know what the current status of their organization is so we might find an active base and capture one of their members." Tanis said.

Ashley nodded and tapped the back button until she reached the initial idle screen. She double tapped the historical archives and then the latest entry.

/Accessing File HistoricalRecord97439.tri

/File Opened

/Contents: Historical Entry # 97439 as written by member #541 on 2/17/2150

/Begin File:

Its official, the team is being disbanded. Team Magma members have captured and executed the boss and everyone has fallen into anarchy. I saw it coming the moment that that stupid Ares project failed. Fernando pumped way too much of the team's funding into that dead-end project and it turned out a horrific failure that lost our connections with CloneSymantics Inc permanently. Fernando said we could have conquered the world with that creature, but now the entire team has been destroyed thanks to his risky investments.

Team Magma and Aqua have sent a message to all remaining Rocket members, we will all be hunted down and killed if we hold to our allegiance with our team. Even without the boss however, the penalty for leaving the team is death, and I don't plan on taking that way anytime soon. I will stay with the team as long as I can until there is no-one left to enforce that rule, and then I'm jumping ship to become an Aqua Member. If another Rocket member is reading this, you will never find who I am.

/End File

Ashley and Tanis stood silent for a moment, allowing time to let the information sink in. Eventually, Ashley turned to Tanis and said, "So, who is doing this to us?"

"A splinter cell perhaps?" Tanis asked. Suddenly, his heard jerked to the side and his face scrunched in concentration.

"What? What is it?" Ashley whispered.

"Quiet, I hear something!" Tanis said.

Ashley's ears couldn't hear a thing, but she knew Tanis' hearing must have been far superior to her own. The room suddenly felt a lot more uncomfortable than it had been, she now wondered if they had been alone at all.

"Quickly, grab my arm!" Tanis said urgently.

Ashley complied, not knowing why. She suddenly felt herself being lifted as Tanis hovered them both up into the air. She could also no longer see him. She looked down at herself, and there was no sign of her body.

"I've made us invisible for the moment, someone is coming." Tanis said to Ashley, trying to calm her.

Ashley was not calmed however, she could feel her heart racing as her ears suddenly picked up the footsteps that Tanis had heard coming much farther away. She looked down at the door and could barely make out dark human forms entering the room. There were at least twenty of them, dressed the same as the ones that had raided Mewtwo's resting place. As she watched, the men silently drew their swords. Light from the screen she and Tanis had left on reflected off of the deadly steel blades. Swiftly, the men disseminated into the room and began destroying the computer towers. They sliced and diced through the computers with their blades, and clouds of sparks filled the room. Electric fizzing and popping filled the air, and the terminal screen suddenly flashed to static as its input disappeared.

Down below, one of the men paused from his destructive work to notice something. One of the computers had a great, crumpled claw mark on it. Tanis saw him examining it and he knew the jig was up. The man looking at the mark Tanis had made hissed indiscernibly and all his comrades stopped to come and look. Then the one who called promptly fiddled with his belt and pulled out what looked like a pair of binoculars. They had a red laser sight on them, and their lenses glowed green. The man scanned the room systematically until his laser sight stopped on the space where Tanis and Ashley were hovering invisible.

"Get ready to drop." Tanis said silently into Ashley's mind.

Ashley felt her heart rate nearly double when the man with the binoculars pointed straight at her and the laser sight came to rest on her forehead. Suddenly, he and all his followers pulled out Uzis and aimed them at her. That was when Tanis let go and they both dropped to the ground.

The wall and ceiling where they had been just a second ago was suddenly perforated with thousands of bullets as all of the men fired their guns at once. Ashley landed and felt a pain tear up from her ankle. She knew it was sprained. She turned to see Tanis was not beside her, he was dashing right at the men who were still unloading rounds into the ceiling. He formed two energy blades and diced the men with ease as he ran between them. Ten of them crumpled and fell like rag dolls, and the other ten turned their guns still firing at Tanis. Ashley screamed, knowing he would be riddled and torn to shreds by the storm of lead projectiles. But she saw an orange glowing bubble form around him and the bullets ricocheted off. He finished off all but one and Ashley saw the last one fall stiff as a board to the ground, paralyzed.

Tanis had psychically paralyzed the man so he could not activate his belt bomb. He approached them man and yanked off his belt. He tossed it aside and then released the paralysis partially, allowing the man to speak.

"Will you tell me who you work for or will I have to ready your mind?" Tanis asked. "Team Aqua or Magma?"

The man's face was blank, devoid of emotion. "Loyalty or death" he said.

Suddenly, Tanis was blown backwards by a blast of psychic energy out of the blue. He reached out and caught the base of a computer tower with his robotic arm and halted his momentum. He jumped to his feet and saw who had attacked him. A form covered in bright crimson robes walked into the room. No part of him was visible under his ugly vestments. A sword emerged from his robes and it stabbed down into the black clad man's head, sealing his secrets away forever.

"Who are you?" Tanis said in his most deadly psychic tone. He made it audible for the robed one and Ashley.

"The question to be asked is, who are you?" The robed figure said, its voice echoed deeply into tones that were unnatural for any type of vocal cord.

"I am Tanis, and I ask you; do you come from Team Magma?"

"You cannot comprehend what I am nor whom I serve. We are above humans, and we have deemed you unfit for existence. Die now."

Ashley watched as Tanis suddenly tensed and his face contorted with concentration. She knew enough about how psychic Pokemon battled, she had trained several of them over her career as League Champion. She could recognize that this man was assaulting Tanis psychically, and the battle was not going well for him. She knew she had to help, so she silently crept forward toward the body of a dead black clad man on the floor. She grabbed his Uzi and pointed it the red robed figure. She pulled the trigger and the report barked loudly through the chamber. The red robes thrashed and undulated violently as the bullets ripped through them. Ashley held the burst as long as she could until the gun fell silent, out of ammunition. She looked at the figure and saw red blood seeping into the robes, making them glisten in the faint light that glowed from the partially destroyed computer towers. It was a terrifying sight, and the man just continued to stand there.

Tanis suddenly relaxed and Ashley saw it much to her relief. "Disable him now so you can extract the info from his mind!" She said.

"I will not....allow....that to happen." The man sputtered wetly as blood filled his lungs. "Loyalty, or death."

"Jump back, now!" Tanis screamed at Ashley, who was only feet from the robed man.

Time seemed to slow as the next events unfolded. Ashley was too dumbfounded with fear to do what she knew she had to. She looked and saw the man's arm was moving underneath his robes toward his waist. She then got the message and her brain sent the signals to her legs to shove her back. Before she could however, there was a blinding flash as the bomb went off. Ashley could only scream, her mind anticipating the death that was a few feet away. As time finally returned to its original speed, she felt herself hit the ground unharmed. She looked up to see Tanis standing between her and where the man had been, a glowing orange bubble surrounding him.

Tanis slowly let his arms fall to his sides and the bubble faded away. Ashley saw a crater in the room's floor; all the computer towers had been blown away except for the ones that had been behind Tanis' shield alongside Ashley. She was on an island that was in the middle of a sea of devastation that was this room.

"I guess I owe you my life again." Ashley said, smiling weakly.

Tanis turned to her and grinned. "I keep no tabs for a friend." He said.

The two of them proceeded slowly back up the turning hallways to exit the hideout. As they proceeded, Tanis newly assessed the situation.

"I think it's obvious now that we're not dealing with any human criminal syndicate, neither Teams Magma and Aqua nor a splinter of Rocket." He said.

"That man in the red robe, his voice chilled me to the bone. Who could he have possibly been?" Ashley wondered.

"During the time that we psychically dueled, I saw flashes from his mind. I didn't see very much, just a few almost unreadable flashes of imagery. But what I could intercept and understand was chilling. It was of another creature like me, only with blood red skin the same color as the man's robes." Tanis said.

"What do you think it means?" Ashley asked.

"I think I saw a flash of the other of my species." Tanis said.

"Ares?"

"Yes. Somehow, he is involved with these people, I just don't know how."

**Chapter XIII – R4**

In her dreams, Ruru was sitting in front of a table that was covered with small vases. She was picking them up randomly and looking inside them to see what they held. One held water, one held sand, and another held ants. As Ruru picked up the fourth however, a beam of golden light suddenly streamed out of it. She tilted it to look inside and the light splashed over her face. She suddenly felt extraordinarily hot and the light filled her vision. The burning heat seared her skin, and her eyes felt as if they were melting. There was a jolt and a shattering pain in her forehead.

"You are destined to hold Wisdom's power until the great reuniting. Use it well." A booming voice said.

Ruru suddenly burst awake. She frantically opened her eyes and saw the dark interior of her room clearly. She felt the skin on her face, it was unhurt. She then saw a glimmer on her hand, a shining gold on the back of her right hand. She looked at it, it was a golden triangle about an inch on each side, embedded in her skin. A violent draft suddenly whipped through the room, Ruru turned and saw her window was open. She looked back down at her hand again, it shone without being luminescent, almost like some foreign light were reflecting off of it. But there was no light anywhere in or out of the room. The entire Gerudo palace was dark and silent, there were no signs of life to be seen over the grasslands that were slowly overtaking the desert outside of Ruru's open window.

Suddenly her door burst open and three armed Gerudo guards rushed in.

"We heard you scream milady!" One of them said.

Ruru concluded that she must have screamed as she had woken up. "I'm alright, no one's in here. But, look at this." She said, holding up her hand.

The Guard held her torch up to Ruru's hand and stared at the golden triangle intensely.

"It wasn't there when I went to sleep." Ruru said.

"This could be some form of sorcery, we should wake up a cleric or a medicine woman and your sister to look at it." The guard said.

"It would probably be the best idea." Ruru said, getting out of bed and slipping on a nightgown.

So Kalana and Fara were woken and they met in the palace infirmary. Their torches sputtered sickly, making only half-hearted attempts to fight off the intrusive darkness of the night. Fara examined the foreign object in Ruru's hand first, but could deduce nothing. But when Kalana looked at it, her face scrunched up in deep thought and remembrance like she was trying to unearth a memory that was ringing a bell but eluding direct placement.

"I remember, something that mother told me about this. It was part of an tremendously ancient Hylian Legend. Come, we must go to the archives." Kalana said.

The three of them with two helpers trudged down several flights of stairs to the deepest basement of the palace. The old archives were in a room next to the palace's wine cellar, and the sweet smell of Hylian grapes filled their nostrils as they passed through. Once in the musty archives, Kalana braved the dust piles and began sifting through rows of tomes and stacks of scrolls. The air became thick with dust and it was slightly hard to breathe. Kalana grumbled in frustration as she dug through Hylian lore and legends until she finally found the scroll she was looking for. She unrolled it fully to seven feet long and puffed the dust off of it. It was cracked and yellowed, but its Ancient Hylian text was still readable.

"Containing the power of the Goddesses themselves, the Triforce was left behind after Din, Nayru, and Farore created the world. It is said that whoever touches them will have the wish in his heart granted, but only if his heart, mind and soul are balance. The Triforce will only deem those worthy that hold the forces of Power, Wisdom, and Courage in equality. Should one who is imbalanced touch it, it will split into three pieces, only leaving the piece that represents the force that the seeker values most. The other three pieces will seek out others that hold their forces in high regard.

"Two thousand years ago, the Triforce was split by a Gerudo King by the name of Ganondorf. He created a world of darkness for seven years before being struck down by a noble Hylian Hero. Since then, it has not been seen in Hyrule nor the Sacred realm."

Kalana looked back at Ruru. "Read this." She said.

Ruru read the scroll as well, and as she finished she wondered what had made her worthy of gaining such a power. But she remembered the words in her dream, and she related them to her sister without hesitation.

"So, the Triforce has been rediscovered by someone once more. But who found it, and what piece did he keep?" Kalana asked.

"It's not like I have a mental link to him or something! All I know is that I'm very sleepy, and as long as this thing isn't dangerous to me then I'm going to bed!" Ruru said.

"Yes, it must be close to dawn. We should talk about it more in the morning." Kalana said, suddenly suppressing a yawn.

After walking back up the stairs and closing her bedroom door, Ruru found herself wondering why the Triforce had chosen her. The bed offered her no answers as she climbed into it, but Ruru hoped that more dreams might. Besides, she hadn't finished looking in all of her vases yet, who knows what might be in the next one.

**Chapter XIV – I4**

"Well, now that that's over with, I suppose we should get back to business eh?" Alex said, smiling over at Isaac.

"Wait, don't you think it would be a good idea to work together and find out more about these things that just attacked us? Together we are more powerful!" Isaac said.

"My dear foolish Isaac, you should remember that you're nothing without your Djinni. If I take them from you, then I won't need to team up with you. Now kindly hand over your Djinn so I won't have to crush you." Alex said smugly.

Isaac sighed heavily. He wondered what the world would come to after Alex killed him and took his Djinn. He held his Darksword tightly, admiring the irony of how that evil blade had become subservient to him in fighting for good in the world. Alex might take it too and use it for its original purpose.

"No." Isaac said plainly.

"Then I must apologize for you." Alex said.

In an instant, Isaac suddenly felt a stabbing pain and looked down to see Alex's blade sticking out of his stomach. His knees gave out and he fell to the ground limply. His vision began to blur, but he could feel Alex pulling the Venus Djinn off of him.

"Please...don't hurt....Mia." Isaac sputtered with his last few breaths.

"Oh don't worry, as long as she and your friends don't try to resist my new world order, then they'll be fine, living their lives as my personal slaves!" Alex cackled.

Isaac's mind reeling in despair at the thoughts Alex left him with. He felt his power fade as Alex took the last few Djinn away. He tried to reach an arm up to take one last swing at Alex with the Darksword, but his body was no longer strong enough to lift the blade.

"Hmm, you know the saying 'I'll see you in the next life'? I'd say that for you, but I'm afraid that it won't happen, thanks to the immortality that the Stone of Sages has granted me. So, goodbye forever then!" Alex laughed as he walked off.

There was a sudden golden flash in the sky, and Isaac's eyes struggled to look up and see it. He was turning cold, his lungs had just stopped breathing. The light intensified in his fading vision until his vision stopped fading. He suddenly felt new warmth wash over his dying body, new energy flooded his veins. There was a sudden jolt and he felt a pain in his forehead. His body suddenly jerked to life again, his lungs sucked in new breath. He felt the hole in his stomach suddenly close and feeling was restored in the lower half of his body. He felt a bolt of energy travel down his body to stop at his right hand, and the light faded away.

"You are destined to hold Power's strength until the great reuniting. Use it well" A voice suddenly boomed in Isaac's ear.

Isaac was fully restored and then some, he could feel immense power pulsing through his mind and body. It was as if all the Djinn in the world had been set to him. He stood and looked at Alex as he was walking away.

"Alex!" Isaac shouted suddenly.

Alex turned and stared at Isaac with an expression of pure shock.

"Try this on for size!" Isaac shouted.

Isaac raised his arms in the air and collected the new energy that had been afforded to him. He didn't use it to create an elemental psynergy spell however, he simply formed it into a glowing sphere of power. Smaller orbs of elemental energy formed on their own, emerging out of the environment and glowing in the four colors. They orbited it like electrons around an atom's nucleus. Isaac threw the energy forward and the smaller ones screamed ahead first. They smashed into Alex, perforating his armor and knocking him backwards several feet. Then the larger orb struck the ground where Alex had stood and a great white ball of flames and furious power engulfed Alex. The shockwave blasted Alex backwards like a rag doll, he slammed into a rock and his armor rook the blunt of the impact. The explosion's report echoed across the entire Gondowan Continent, further agitating the people of Kibombo in the East.

When the smoke cleared, Isaac walked over to the gigantic crater that his attack had left. Alex was lying in the bottom, his armor and skin charred badly. His hair had been completely burned off. The Djinni he was wearing had unset themselves and were wandering aimlessly around him. Isaac walked down the crater walls to the bottom and began to pick them up. He set them to himself and felt his power grow even further, like Gasoline on a fire. He set every single one of them, all 72, and they covered his ruined armor. He then reached down and searched Alex's person for the Stone of Sages. He found it in a pouch inside Alex's armor and took it for himself.

Suddenly Alex opened his burned eyelids and looked up to see Isaac wearing all of the Djinn.

"It seems that you win, dear opponent.....Good show. I guess it'll be me who'll be waiting for eternity in the afterlife for an opponent who'll never come." Alex stammered.

Isaac scowled down at Alex, who now looked like nothing but a pathetic ant to him. He grabbed Alex's half melted sword and stabbed it into Alex's chest.

"Just die already, weak little man." Isaac said.

Alex was silent, his head fell back to the stone in one jerk and his eyes glassed over. Isaac took his sword out of his stomach and snapped the metal over his knee. He tossed the bloody blade down with the rest of Alex's ruins and walked out of the crater. He immediately looked southeast and felt the presence of his friends. He began to walk, it was at least five miles away, but he could do it easily. He wanted to talk to Kraden, badly.

**Chapter XV – T4**

Orange radiance blazed over the ridges of Purity Canyon as Tanis and Ashley sat on the island in the center of the crater's lake. They had come back here again to collect their thoughts and to plan a new course of action. Though the Team Rocket Hideout had given them much useful information, none of it lead them any father toward the next two pieces of the Triforce or to finding out who these men were who had attacked them. Tanis looked down at his left had, the glinting polished steel of his robotic arm was cold, lifeless and alien to him. It clicked and whirred in an almost eerie fashion when he moved it, and the sharpened claw fingers he had looked almost sinister. He looked at his right hand and admired the golden glow of the Triforce piece. Looking at it filled his mind with courage and inner peace, almost a polar opposite of what he felt when he had looked at his other arm. Then Tanis looked up into the sky and saw the hair thin black line that was bisecting the sky. As he stared at it, it became easier to see, more defined for his vision. It was almost as if it had gotten a tiny bit wider. Tanis rubbed his eyes and saw it had stopped, but it was definitely clearer to his eyes.

"Back before we entered the hideout, I tried to show you something." Tanis said to Ashley. "Look now, up in the sky. There is something there."

Ashley raised her eyes to the atmosphere, following Tanis' pointing arm. She squinted for a moment and then looked at Tanis with a confused expression.

"I don't see anything." She said.

Tanis looked up again. Maybe it was some sort of phenomenon that was natural to this world, something so insignificant that his father had never mentioned it in his messages. Either that, or he had but the computer hadn't played it before the errors shut it down.

"Never mind." Tanis said. His mind suddenly recalled back to his father and he remembered the two gems they had found.

"Can I have those two jewels?" Tanis asked.

"What jewels?" Ashley asked.

"The ones we recovered from my father's grave. The black and white ones."

"Ah, sure. Let me get them out. I have that Medallion too." Ashley said.

Ashley reached into her backpack and produced the Sage of Time's Medallion, and then rifled through her fanny pack to find the gems. She handed them all to Tanis and Tanis could feel their energies. He could feel his father's essences in the items, each held his memories and his emotions preserved as if in freeze-frames. But when he held them in his robotic hand, he could feel nothing. He set the Medallion down and just held the two gems in his right hand. They suddenly felt warmer in his hand, and the Triforce piece in the back of his hand glowed brighter. Tanis saw images flash through his mind. He saw pictures of a burning desert, a green paradise, and a gigantic space fleet. He saw a pair of burning red eyes and a pair of angelic wings. He saw a great battlefield strewn with the dead and planets burning and exploding. He saw the smiling faces of a tanned desert people and the satin white face of a royal princess. He then saw his father's face before him. Mewtwo's face then twisted and contorted into that of an evil version of himself, his horns spiked and twisted and with dripping fangs. The face then turned back and then into something new, an angelic version of him with the deepest blue eyes in the universe. As the images faded away, Tanis noticed that the gems were searing hot in his hand and he dropped them instantly. He turned and saw that Ashley was staring at him.

"What in the world is up with you?" Ashley asked.

"I've seen images from my father's life." Tanis said. "He had told me his stories, but I never saw them in person. It was quite amazing and shocking at the same time."

Suddenly Tanis felt a wave of energy passing through himself. His senses were acutely amplified and he felt the energy from the other living creatures around him at a much higher awareness. He could suddenly feel the emotion of worry and compassion emanating from Ashley's mind without actually reading it. He could feel the content of a squirrel eating an acorn up in a tree behind them. He could feel the energies of humans living hundreds of miles away. All of their emotions washed over him at once. Joy, rage, sorrow, laughter, hatred, elation, and love all filled his ears in a cacophony of emotional energy that was deafening. He clasped his hands tightly and his face contorted from the feelings he was feeling. The metal claws on his robotic arm screeched against each other.

"So loud!" Tanis said, his mind overloading.

"What, what do you mean, it's totally silent here." Ashley said, gesturing all around them at the tranquility of the canyon.

"So many voices, make them stop!" Tanis howled, now clutching his head.

"What voices?" Ashley asked frantically, not knowing what to do to help him.

The tides of emotion suddenly ebbed in Tanis' mind, the din decreasing until he could suddenly make out one over all the others.

"So, the Triforce has been rediscovered by someone once more. But who found it, and what piece did he keep?" a woman's voice whispered in his head.

"So, goodbye forever then!" A sinister sounding man's voice laughed.

"So my dear brother, your abilities are growing well." A third, malevolent voice uttered.

"Get out of my head!" Tanis shouted at the top of his psychic voice. The voices all ceased at once, his mind was clear.

Ashley had been laid out by the force at which Tanis had screamed, her mind reeled and echoed the powerful burst that Tanis had inadvertently sent into her mind as well. She moaned in pain and hid her face behind her hands as if the sky were assaulting her eyes. As Tanis recovered himself, he found he could now still sense these energies as well, but he could now control and filter out what he did and didn't want to hear. And now he could hear the thoughts of men far away, talking about Ares and his father Mewtwo.

"Ashley! I think I have found our next objective!" Tanis said eagerly, forgetting the fit he had just thrown.

"Tanis...." Ashley began, "I need some sleep. I have the biggest headache known to mankind, the kind only six to eight hours of solid rest can cure. Let's go to a city and get a hotel room."

Tanis understood and accepted this, but one thing worried him. "Won't I look frightening and suspicious to those who work there?" he asked.

"I'll put you in a Poke ball until we get into our room, unless you have another idea." Ashley said, rubbing her temples.

"I could disguise myself, but that would be too much of a hassle. I could cloak myself, but that uses a lot of energy and I couldn't hold it for too long. I guess we can go with your plan. Besides, I'm curious to see what it's like." Tanis said.

"Alright, take us to Saffron city again I guess. I know some people there." Ashley said.

Tanis teleported them instantly and they appeared back in a dark alley. Ashley fumbled with her trainer's belt until she found and empty Poke ball. She pressed the button and it expanded to full size to fit her palm.

"I hope you don't have claustrophobia." Ashley said, and then tossed the red and white orb at Tanis.

Tanis felt the ball hit him in the stomach and was overcome with the strangest sensation. It was almost the same thing as when he teleported himself, only when her reformed he felt his molecular structure being altered in some way. He knew he was being shrunk. When his vision returned he saw a semi-dark spherical room around him, made out of uniformly drab grey metal in geometric latticework. He settled down in and waited. He could feel a slight swaying motion as Ashley walked, almost like being in a cradle. It was hypnotic and relaxing, and he almost dozed off until he heard Ashley voice. The Poke ball muffled the sound of her speaking, but Tanis knew she had found a place to stay. The talking stopped and the walking began again. The walking continued for a few more minutes, and Tanis heard a creaking sound and a click. Then the same feeling came over him again as he was ejected from the Poke ball. He appeared inside a down-home style decorated hotel room with two beds and a TV.

"This was all I could afford for now." Ashley said.

"It will be good, I will just put that dresser at the end of my bed so that my feet won't dangle off of the bottom. Tanis said. "Are you going to watch television before sleeping?"

"Not with this headache, I'm going straight to bed." Ashley said.

"I suppose I will too then." Tanis said. He used his power to lift the dresser and place it at the foot of his bed.

Ashley let out a great sigh of relief as she let her backpack slam to the floor and off of her shoulders. She jumped into the bed without even getting under the covers and turned off the lights. Tanis gently set the Medallion and two gems on the night-table and climbed into the human sized bed. He feet rested on the dresser with a couple of extra pillows as padding against the hardwood surface. His tail stuck out the side, hanging down comfortably. He relaxed, letting out a great breath of air. LED lights in his robotic arm flickered off and the sounds of the city outside lulled him and Ashley into deep sleep.

A/N: So the Triforce has now distributed itself to its new holders. What has Tanis seen that could lead to their next clue? What is happening to Isaac? What will happen to Ruru? Keep on reading and I'll keep on writing! Reviews make the Fanfiction world go round!


	7. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 6

**Legacies**

**A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths**

By MMM/AJ

A/N: Tests, projects, papers, quizzes, endless study guides, rinse, lather, repeat. Throw in a little writing now and then and you get my life right now. Thus is why this chunk took a few extra days (half a week) more than expected. Ah well, it was still fun to write. I'm slowly gaining on my grades now and things are looking better. But I don't expect even a slight reprieve until the end of the quarter. Enjoy!

**Chapter XVI – A5**

Ashley was in the deepest sleep she had ever experienced in her life when she suddenly felt the infuriating sensation of someone shaking her awake. She wanted to scream in rage at the loss of her relaxed state and she nearly did as she woke up.

"What the hell is it already" She snapped and opened her eyes. As soon as her eyes were open however, she saw what was up.

The hotel room was totally trashed, everything had been totally wrecked. The TV was smashed in, pictures ripped from the walls, dressers crushed, and water was seeping along the floor from the bathroom. Tanis had shaken her awake, and a look of sheer terror was on his face.

"The Jewels and the Medallion are gone!" Tanis said hysterically, his psychic voice wavering in Ashley's head.

"Wha...what?" Ashley stammered as adrenaline blasted her awake.

"Someone entered our room at night, destroyed everything without waking us, and took the Jewels and Medallion!" Tanis said. "It's terrible, my father specifically warned us not to let them fall into the wrong hands!"

Ashley stood out of bed and felt for her backpack. She looked down and saw that it had been ripped open and all her stuff was scattered across the floor. What was left of her money was gone too, along with all of her spare food and water. Her survival gear, flashlights, toothbrush, all of it was gone. All that remained were her Pokemon Trainer's supplies, three full restore potions, five spare ultra balls and her Pokedex. She instinctively felt at her waist and was relieved to find that all of her Pokemon team was still there. Dumb luck and tiredness might have saved them from being snatched.

"They didn't harm you either?" Ashley asked.

"No, I am untouched. But they might as well have killed me for the importance of those items lost!" Tanis lamented, now pacing the remnants of the room in his nervous fervor.

"Listen! As long as we've got your psychic powers it shouldn't be a problem to track those items down!" Ashley shouted.

Tanis stopped his pacing and turned to face Ashley. "You're absolutely right." He said. "Give me a moment."

Ashley watched as Tanis sat and concentrated. Not a single emotion played out on his face as she observed him. She hoped that a housekeeper didn't come by anytime soon, she couldn't afford to pay to have the room fixed. At last Tanis stood with a look of determination and resolve.

"I've found them. A gang of regular human thieves stole them, so they're not in dangerous hands at the moment. But that could change at any time, we need to go retrieve them at once." Tanis said calmly.

"Good, let me pack my stuff into a pillowcase and we can leave immediately." Ashley said, bending over the strewn array of her remaining possessions.

"Yes of course. I've already pinpointed their energy signatures 15 miles due north, I can teleport us to them directly since they're so close." Tanis said.

"Won't that use quite a lot of your energy?" Ashley asked as she stuffed her items into the relatively small pillowcase.

"It seems my powers have been growing steadily, especially since I bonded with the jewels last night." Tanis said. "I can do it with relative ease."

"Right," Ashley said, tying a knot in the open end of her pillowcase, "I'm ready. Let's go."

"Grab my arm." Tanis said.

Ashley did so and the both of them dematerialized. Their timing was perfect too, as a housekeeper came to the door of the room just minutes after they left.

Ashley still held in her mind that she would never get used to the feeling of teleportation. It felt like her organs had all shifted around inside her, but she knew it untrue. Still, she couldn't help feeling her torso with her hands after coming out of the teleport to see if everything was in order.

"That house, over there." Tanis said, pointing to a dilapidated old log cabin standing on the top of the hill.

"So what's the plan?" Ashley asked.

"Simple. I'll paralyze them, we recover the gems, and then later we find a more secure way to store them at night while we sleep." Tanis said.

Ashley chuckled. "Sounds good to me."

The two of them crept up to the door of the house and paused to listen. There were two voices inside, just barely audible to Ashley's ears.

"I can't believe we hit all those hotel rooms and trashed them without waking everyone up! Dude, it was awesome!" One voice exclaimed.

"Listen yeah, about that. When we were trashing this one room, you remember an especially large guy in one of the beds?" The second asked.

"I think so, some guy with feet bigger than clown shoes. He had some funky looking jewels just lying on the bedside stand. I didn't bother to look."

There was a slight pause before the talking continued. "Those things look like they're made out of glass, probably worthless. I'd say toss em out, we don't want our fence to think we're tryin to rip him off."

There was a sudden shuffling and popping sound from inside the room, and both of the thieves screamed at once, but Tanis had not yet entered.

"What do you want from us?" The first voice said, fright obvious in his tone.

"The white and black gems, we must have them." A familiar, hissing voice said. The air seemed to shudder at its words.

It was at this point that Tanis burst through the door, paralyzing the two thieves and stopping to see who had threatened them. Ashley jumped in beside him and her jaw dropped in paralyzing surprise. The sight before her was more shocking than frightening, before them was one of those red robed figures that they had encountered before, only hits hood was down. It was not human, rather it looked exactly like Tanis except that it had the purest crimson skin and fur. It looked over at them expressionlessly, like its mind was empty.

"So you've come as well." The chilling voice said.

Suddenly Ashley felt her entire body seize up in one great spasm and she fell to the wooden floor as stiff as a board. She felt a burning, stinging presence in her mind, like someone was forcing a red hot poker into her skull. She wanted to scream, but her body was totally paralyzed. She saw Tanis burst into action and watched as he did battle with the red robed copy, they exchanged energy sword blows at lightning speeds. Then Ashley felt someone step on her leg and the red robed one tripped and fell face first on the floor. Tanis leapt forward and stabbed his energy sword into the creature's spine and suddenly the paralysis was lifted from Ashley. She stood in a jolting fashion and watched Tanis grab this red doppelganger by its neck and hold it to eye level.

"Now, your mind will show me why you're doing this, Ares!" Tanis growled.

"You're a fool." The red one said. "The only thing that you will find out today is that I am not the great blood lord himself, but only a humble servant."

"Then tell me what he's trying to do!" Tanis yelled, shaking the copy furiously. It gurgled and let out a monstrous laugh.

"you will find out sooner or later! Now then, for loyalty!" The creature said, and then suddenly fell limp like a rag doll."

"Wha, what happened?" Ashley asked, wondering what had happened to Ares' servant.

"He erased his own mind, it's totally blank of all thought or information." Tanis said and threw the body down to the floor in disgust. It landed with a soft thump and did not move.

"We should collect the gems and leave now, we need to find out what Ares is planning." Tanis said.

Ashley got back up and walked over to the two unfortunate criminals who were now huddled trembling in the corner.

"We'll give you the stupid jewels, just leave us alone!" One of them said, his tone truly reflecting how he was backed into a corner and fearing for his life.

The other thief handed the jewels to Ashley more than willingly. Tanis walked over to them and their cringed, expecting death.

"There was a light blue Medallion too, you stole it along with the jewels. Give it back as well." Tanis said calmly to them.

"We can't, those men in black who were with the red monster took it already!" the second thief said.

Tanis suddenly turned and smashed his robotic arm into the table in the center of the room. The wood shattered into hundreds of pieces and the table collapsed like a tissue.

"Please don't kill us! It wasn't our fault!" The first man said, nearly in tears from terror.

"No, it is not your fault totally. The only thing I'm going to do is wipe your memory." Tanis said, regaining his composure.

"You're going to what?" all three humans in the room asked in equal confusion.

"Ashley, please accompany me out so we can leave them be." Tanis said, gesturing towards the door.

Ashley shrugged, not wanting to cause further conflict, and began walking out the door. Tanis followed her and the thieves said not a word as they left swiftly and without explaination. Then Tanis closed his eyes fro a moment as he walked alongside Ashley. A few moments later he opened them again and looked at Ashley.

"They didn't need to remember the past twenty-four hours' events do they?" Tanis asked emotionlessly.

"I suppose you're right." Ashley said,. "Where do we go from here?"

Tanis was silent for a moment as he stopped walking. He raised his hand silently toward the south. "I was not able to get much from that blood servant's mind, but I could determine that he originated from an installation almost four hundred miles south."

Ashley did a double take. "Did you say four hundred miles?" She gasped.

"Yes." Tanis replied succinctly.

"But....how will we get down there? We can't just teleport since you've never seen the place!"

"Have you ever flown on an airplane before Ashley?" Tanis suddenly asked.

"No, why?" Ashley asked, wondering why he had changed the subject.

Tanis grabbed Ashley's arm gently and closed his eyes. Ashley felt he center of gravity shift and suddenly her feet left the ground. She wasn't initially frightened because Tanis had done this once before in the Team Rocket Hideout, but as they flew higher and higher and began to pick up speed, she found herself growing extremely uncomfortable.

"Are you sure you have enough energy to take us all that distance?" Ashley asked, not realizing that her grip was now extraordinarily tight around Tanis' real arm.

"Most certainly, it's a trifle to me now."

Ashley looked down at the ever shrinking ground and swallowed hard. She hoped the ride wouldn't last too long, she felt her stomach start to churn.

"I wonder how the birds can do this" Ashley thought to herself.

**Chapter XVII – R5**

Ruru woke up that morning with more energy than she had ever had before. Just as the sun peeked through her window and hit her eyelids, she popped awake, jumped out of bed, and prepared for the day at a pace that she had never achieved before. She was skipping down the palace steps and whistling merrily, and approached the Great Hall to meet up with Kalana and start the day. When she opened the small wooden door at the back of the great hall it was totally empty inside, not a sign of any other Gerudo except one form lying face down at the head of the table.

Ruru rushed up to the form to see it was Kalana, alive and well and holding a sheet of parchment in her hand like she had just been reading it. The solitude of the great hall was unheard of at this time of morning, normally cooks and servants would be bustling about preparing breakfast for the palace's inhabitants. Now here was only Kalana, seemingly frozen in lament over a single sheet of paper. Ruru took the paper and Kalana didn't make any protest. The paper read;

SUMMONS

Hylian Queen her majesty Sirpala has called issued a summons to Elder Kalana of the Gerudos, Brother Dregar of the Gorons, and Abaim of the Sheikah.

Purpose: Accusations of raid on Royal Hylian Treasury, losses totalled at 15,000,000 Rupees.

Time: Today at high noon

Failure to attend will result in declaration of full scale war against the people who do not send the summoned delegates. Punishment for delegates not attending is death.

There was nothing Ruru could say, she simply sat down next to Kalana and placed her own head down onto the table. She wondered how and why the raid had taken place, and knew that there was nothing they could do about it except attend. If they did not, they would surely be branded the perpetrators, but if they did, it would be sending a message to the rest of the races of Hyrule that the Gerudos were subservient to Hylian will.

"We have to go, you know?" Kalana suddenly said.

"Yes, otherwise there would be no dispute that we were the ones who committed the act." Ruru said. "But what if the others don't show up and we do? That could damage our relationships with Dregar and Abaim."

"Either way, the only possible win situation involves us attending, so we might as well be present. It is the best action available." Kalana said, her voice holding back a flood of anger and suppressed stress.

Ruru stood and looked up out of the windows that lined the ceiling of the Great Hall. The sun was still relatively low in the sky, and the light was flowing in at quite an angle. They would have enough time to make it to the castle and to make a few stops along the way.

"We should go now." Ruru said.

"What for? That'd give us an extra half hour of waiting." Kalana said, lifting her head off of the table.

"I want to make a pit stop along the way." Ruru replied.

So the two of them rode out into Hyrule once more, the hooves of their horses gracefully covering the great distances in minutes. The Gerudo trained stallions were bred for the highest physical endurance possible, and they could cover Hyrule field in a manner of hours. Once at least one hour of travel had passed, the small ranching town by the name of Lon-Lon came into view. Ruru signaled to her sister that it was there that they would make their pit-stop. Arriving at the borders of the town, they hitched their horses and Ruru led the way through the dirt roads. Cucco breed chickens ran rampant through the streets and the air smelled of feed and manure. Ruru walked past a small general store to an even smaller run down one room shack. The wood was rotting and the door was hanging by one hinge, so the whole thing looked as if it could collapse at any moment.

"You remember the time when those mages from the southern lands invaded Hyrule ten years ago?" Ruru asked suddenly as they approached the shack.

"Yes, why? What does that have to do with this old dump?" Kalana asked almost patronizingly.

"Well, you remember how we had to find a place to hide out until they were defeated don't you?" Ruru asked. "This little beauty of a cottage here was my hiding place. I never really bothered to tell you because you were busy telling your stories about how you had hid in the ruins of the Shadow Temple."

"Oh yes, I remember that. Quite a frightening place, even if it is only at a fraction of its former horrors."

"Listen, the point is that I left some things here after the Siege of Hyrule was broken, a few very old and powerful magical artifacts that we could use." Ruru said, pulling the door down off of its remaining hinge.

The inside of the hut was eerie, the warped wooden boards that made up the walls let in lines of light that were swerved and unnatural. There was a single shelf inside covered with grey metal ration cans, most of which were opened and empty. A few leftover ones which had not been open were now swollen like rotting corpses, eager to spew their guts out at the slightest provocation. Ruru bent down and fiddled around with the ground underneath the shelf, mumbling inaudibly until something clicked loudly. A small secret compartment flipped open, revealing a set of small, colored gems. There was a red one, a blue one, a green one and an orange one. Ruru grabbed them and handed them to Kalana to look at and hold.

"It was 21 years ago when Mewtwo came to deliver his final farewell to us, and he was as old as a sage? Before he left to return to his world one final time, he left me these gems. He told me that, a year after receiving the whole Triforce that they emerged from his skull. He said that they contained the newly rejuvenated energies of the ancient Elemental magics, summoned to him by the Triforce itself and destined to replace the ancient Medallions of old. He told me that he didn't have a complete set either, he did not know why he had been denied the final two that represented Darkness and Light. But he did tell me one thing, to never use them unless I really need to." Ruru said.

"So, how is it that we truly need them now?" Kalana asked, now appearing very confused and worried.

"It's simple, I was walking down the stairs this morning and thinking our situation over and it dawned on me. Normally, Sirpala is the most skeptical, cynical, untrusting person one could meet. So why now would she suddenly change her tune and support the Iresians, believing their claims to have 30,000 soldiers without question? I think that they do have the soldiers, and that they took Sirpala out on a boat to see them as they floated in ships on the sea."

Kalana stared at the ground in silence as the two of them walked back toward their horses across the dusty little town.

"As much sense as that makes, I still cannot believe that transporting an army that large across the sea is possible!" Kalana said, her voice now much more tense.

"I know you need to cling to your hope now, but I can see it coming. We're setting ourselves up for a fall. The only way to stop it is to collect the sealed powers and artifacts of ancient Hyrule to combat the Iresian menace.

"But...how do you know all this?" Kalana stumbled in both words and walking.

"I cannot be sure exactly, but ever since I woke up this morning the world is many times clearer in my eyes and my mind has sharpened past razor grade. I can foresee the reactions for actions in everyday situations here now as well as political matters in the near future. It's almost like a third eye has opened that opens a window directly into the world for my mind to see without the interference of life's trifles."

Ruru knew the impact that these truths would have on her sister now too as well. They had always both unconsciously known that they shared a hidden empathic connection, and now that connection was amplified for both of them. Ruru could feel shades of Kalana's emotions and she knew it was working the other way around. The only explanation her now heightened mind could come up with was that she was now receiving the full powers of the Triforce of Wisdom.

**Chapter XVIII – I5**

It was darkest night now as Isaac continued the search for his companions. He had walked down from the remains of Magma Rock to the Gondowan Settlement to find that they had already left. He could no longer sense them anymore, and he now felt some of the power in his body recede. Now he was walking toward Kibombo, the next closest town and logically where his friends should be. A part of him boiled in unreasoning anger at them, they shouldn't be leaving him like this. Normally, he wouldn't get this angry this quick, but now his mind was burning with suppressed rage and he didn't know why.

Isaac was traveling around the bends of rivers as they slowly and surely led him South toward Kibombo, and the reflections of moonlight off of their waters had a somewhat calming effect on him. He noticed that oddly he wasn't tired or even the smallest bit sleepy, almost like he had slept all day. He walked the uneven, rocky ground of Central Gondowan with a willful stride, making time as best he could. He walked for hours, but he never felt any tiredness come into his leg muscles or any part of his body. He felt like he could walk forever, and in his mind he knew he would if he had to.

A large stony outcropping rose out of the ground ahead, and the trail Isaac was now following curved around it. It was at least fourteen feet high and he couldn't tell how wide or thick it was. He simply walked along the trail around it, only to find an ambush waiting for him on the other side. Around twenty of the familiar black clad men lunged at him as he rounded the boulders, he was caught totally by surprise. They tackled him to the ground, pinned him under all of their weight, and began yanking Djinni off of his armor.

Isaac wouldn't just let this happen however, he roared in rage and called up a massive psynergy blast. A ball of rife formed around him and expanded rapidly, throwing the men off of him and hurling them away like rag dolls. Isaac stood and felt that fifteen fo his Djinni were missing, and he saw that the men were getting up and running away instead of attacking him. He roared in rage and pulled four Mercury Djinni from his armor. He used them to summon Boreas, the god of the north wind. Miles away in an unknown region of the northern tundra, the wind god arose from his icy prison and let forth a torrent of ice shard to travel speedily south toward their targets.

Overhead Isaac saw the few clouds in the darkened sky part as the cloud of razor edged ice chunks screamed down from the heavens. He counted four seconds before he saw the shards land in a circle all around him. He felt the ground shake slightly under the force and knew that each of his assailants had been struck down. The ice had left a four foot ring around Isaac untouched, a summoned beast or god never harmed its summoner directly. In Garet's case earlier, the Meteor had only caused them harm by collapsing the mountain onto them. Isaac was unscathed from the rain of deadly ice.

Isaac waited the few minutes for the summoned ice to melt, it was not regular ice in the fact that it only stayed around long enough to fulfill its purpose. He then walked around the center of the storm at a constant radius from the center to find each and every one of the black clad men and looted the stolen Djinn from their crushed and lacerated bodies.

"Very good, young human. You control the powers afforded to you well." A sudden, chilling voice said to Isaac's mind.

Isaac wasn't in the least bit surprised. He turned to see another red robed figure behind him. It was identical to the one that he and Alex had fought.

"Now however, you must give me that power." It said again.

Isaac did not respond, rather he walked right up to the figure's robed form, grabbed its hood and threw it off. An oddly angled head, blood red skin and fur, and matching eyes looked back at him. A set of stubby horns crowned the head.

"Who are you?" Isaac asked confrontationally.

"It will not matter to you, once I have turned you back into the elements from which you are built." The creatures said without opening its mouth.

The red robed creature then pushed its arms out from behind its robes, revealing thin spindly arms and what looked like paws with three stubby fingers each. Suddenly, jagged glowing spikes of raw energy appeared in each of the creatures hands and took on the vague shapes of sword blades. It raised those glowing red blades at Isaac and suddenly flew forward at him, propelled an inch or two above the ground.

Isaac drew the Darksword and blocked, and in an instant the raw energy that the red robed creature was using melted right through the blade. There was a sudden blast of energy that knocked the both of them backwards as the blade was destroyed. Isaac landed on his rear end and looked up to see the two pieces of the Darksword hovering in the air and glowing with a horrific evil aura. Sinister shades and specters flew out of the melted parts of the sword, their shrieking and cackling filling the air. There was a sudden flash of light and a shockwave leapt through the air. Then the sword fell inanimate to the ground, no longer empowered by the evil entities that it had imprisoned.

Isaac stood and looked at the creature which had destroyed the weapon he had worked so hard to acquire. It was no standing again as well, a sinister smile spread across its face. This was the first time Isaac had seen it show emotion. It simply laughed at Isaac, standing there and filling the air with its hoarse guttural guffaws.

"For one who has lived their life in the pursuit of heroism and good, it is very ironic that you should carry a tool of such evil!" It laughed.

Isaac felt his blood boil in rage, he raised his fists and saw the energy collecting around them. Without his rational minds consent, he suddenly charged forward and punched the creature in its chest with enough force to crack concrete. It wasn't enough either, as it landed on the ground Isaac continued to pummel the creature mercilessly, he felt its chest cavity collapsing under his blows and continued until blood flowed out from under its robes. Once its torso was a bloody pulp, Isaac then broke both its arms and legs and was about to smash its head in when he heard its voice inside his head once more.

"Let the bloodlust consume you, finish me off now with satisfaction to the very end. Hope that you will be able to enjoy the same kind of experience again." It whispered weakly.

Isaac didn't hesitate. He jumped into the air and brought his knee down into the creature's skull, crushing it and bursting its brains forth. The air was suddenly silent again, and Isaac stood and looked down at his work. He felt the blood dripping off his gauntlets and his knee, and he felt a fulfillment in his mind like he had never felt when helping people. He began walking off and as the feeling faded, he suddenly felt an urge well up from within him, a want to feel that euphoria again. A small part of him hidden away in his mind cried out "why?", but it was now buried deep in his subconscious. He walked along the path again in the moonlight a changed man.

**Chapter XIX – T5**

It was the first time Tanis had actually tried flying in true life before, and he found that there was no other sensation that he knew of that could be compared to it. The air was bitingly chilly and the wind whipped and dried out his eyes, but his mind was in a state of bliss. Ashley was holding his arm in a vice grip and he could feel the fear emanating from her mind, but it did not interrupt his flight of fancy. He was one with the Earth's lifeblood of air currents as they both soared through the circling sky.

Passing through a thick and puffy patch of clouds, Tanis could feel the moisture condense on him and steal away his body heat. It was true, the clouds really weren't made of the cotton that they looked like after all. Winds swirled around them and buffeted them, causing Ashley to murmur with suppressed fright. Tanis just enjoyed the ride, letting the winds bob them up and down through the whiteness of the sky palace that they were traveling through. His lungs ached and he felt his feet and real arm start to feel numb just as they passed out of the cloud bank. The sun streamed down from the endless blue heavens above and warmed him again, and the stunning panorama that stretched before them was striking to one's soul.

An immense, noble thunderhead towered ahead, reaching toward infinity like a great white Greek column. The sun was now blaring down on it from directly overhead and it gleamed the purest white to put any ivory or lace to shame. The unique bubbles and formations taken with its colossal size gave it a powerful presence, a grandeur unmatched by man nor beast in any age. Its top was flattened like a glob of gel being pressed against an invisible pane of glass, a testament to the futility of anything Earthy trying to truly reach the outer limits of the galaxy. Miles below the grand storm cast a dreary shadow on the land below, small flashes of lightning visible in the shadows of the cell's underbelly.

"Are we going to fly through that?" Ashley suddenly asked, her voice cracking from the fear."

"I'm sorry, but yes. Bypassing the storm would add twelve hours to our trip even at my fastest speed. It spreads out for miles upon miles in either direction." Tanis said, still marveling at the magnificence of its beauty.

It did not take the two of them long to approach the storm front. As they came closer and closer, the column of shining vapor towered above their heads. Tanis for the first time realized how truly small he was. The boiling textures of the clouds became less pronounced as they approached, and the wind of the front hit them before the clouds ever did. Ashley shrieked as they were suddenly tossed through the air like specks by the storm's powerful winds, and Tanis struggled to hold course. They pressed through a wave of opposing winds, and Tanis consumed much more energy fighting him than he had going with them before. But as they began passing into the cloud banks, the winds died down and he was able to gain control. The thick vapors of the clouds around them blotted out the sun, the effective amount of light suddenly changed to levels normal to evening. They flew blind through the sudden murky grey, Tanis honing in on the psychic signal that he had tagged his destination with. It was a nifty trick that his father said had took him over thirty years to perfect. It was easy, so he had passed it to Tanis in his messages.

Only a few minutes into that sea of grey did the rain start to hit them. It started with a droplet hitting Tanis squarely on his nose, and soon hundreds more followed. Ashley complained loudly as the water drenched them, but Tanis told her that it would take up more energy than he could spare to raise a physical shield and deflect the rain. Soon they were both soaked through and the rain was blinding as it ran down Tanis' face and into his eyes. He didn't need to see physically to see the beacon though; he maintained his course constantly as the winds rose again and battered them wildly. The rain was icy cold and again Tanis felt his body begin to lose heat. The wind whipped them around and the rain lashed at them life cold steel knives. The howling sound of the maelstrom of air around them was deafening, and Tanis found himself beginning to worry if this was more than just a very powerful thunderstorm. The slow rumble of thunder below them was being drowned out by the wind's lamenting cries.

The air current around them continued to intensify, and Tanis felt himself losing control of their trajectory. He felt the wind drawing him forward, almost like a sudden low pressure ahead was sucking them in. He let it carry them forward for a moment until it swiftly began spinning them around. Tanis fought fiercely against it, but his power was being drained rapidly in his efforts and he was coming dangerously close to being tapped, which would mean a long fall to a quick death. He let go and the winds twirled them around blindingly fast, and Tanis held onto Ashley firmly with his robotic arm so she would not be ripped away from him. Tanis experienced nausea for the first time as he was spun hundreds of times in endless circles, sure that they were traveling in speeds in excess of one hundred and fifty miles per hour. All he could to was cling to Ashley and keep his eyes closed a tightly as he could. He felt a solid object solidly strike him in his stomach and he gasped as his breath was knocked out of him. His real arm lost its grip on Ashley but his robotic arm held fast.

After so many gut wrenching turns through the meteorological washing machine, Tanis and Ashley were suddenly flung free of the maelstrom when their centripetal force and momentum exceeded the suction power of the tornadic entity that had consumed them. It propelled them through the storm like a slingshot; they rocketed through the clouds like a meteor. The air friction slowed their speed rapidly, but when it lasted, it was Tanis' first time ever feeling such shearing and sickening forces acting upon his body. Once they slowly lost their forward momentum and began to fall downwards, Tanis resumed control. He slowly opened his eyes and saw everything was still grey around him, but now the winds were calm and the rain had mostly stopped. He looked at Ashley to see her eyes were still wrenched shut. She was holding onto his robotic arm like a maniac, and where he had gripped her, the metal claws had dug into her skin and drawn blood.

"I think we're clear of it now, I'm sorry for your arm." Tanis said, trying to coax a reaction from Ashley.

Failing to get the paralyzed girl to respond, Tanis proceeded onward toward their goal, reorienting them and flying very slowly to conserve energy. He had used a large portion of his reserves, and to make them stretch all the way to their goal he would need to fly very, very slow. The rain now caressed his quivering body gently, but the adrenaline still coursed through him at an amazing rate. It had been the first time in his life that he truly had no control over what might have happened, and it was shaking to him. It would take a long time for him to regain his confidence now, but the storm's reassuring rain massage helped soothe him for the rest of the way that they traveled in it.

A/N: So Ashley and Tanis have acquired new direction, and they go through a bit of a aggravation on their way. The Gerudos may be facing war with the Hylians, and Isaac is becoming a completely different person. What could happen next? Stay tuned, review, and find out!


	8. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 7

**Legacies   
**A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths   
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Let me apologize for how long this chunk has taken, school is turning into a madhouse. I've had barely any time to write due to the amounts of work I've been doing. Thus, it is likely that the next chunk will take just as long. But the story is starting to pick up now, and I enjoyed writing this very much. I hope you enjoy reading it!

**Chapter XX – A6**

Ashley had been sure that she was about to die. Her life hadn't flashed before her eyes, but there was no doubt in her mind as she felt her rain soaked body being spun around in and endless merry-go-round from hell. With her eyes tightly scrunched closed, she clung to Tanis' arm with an iron grip, hardly noticing the pain as his robotic hand dug into one of her arms. All she could think about was the maddening spin which was about to be her end. Her body was so paralyzed with fear that she could not vomit, even though the dizziness was making a good effort at causing that to happen.

As Ashley gripped to Tanis' arm and tried desperately to break the paralysis in her mind, Tanis' voice suddenly exploded into her mind. He screamed as loud as he could to snap out of it, and it shattered her mind's lock up. Her hands suddenly let go of him, but he was still holding onto her. The pain from where his metal claws had dug into her arm now suddenly burned up her arm. She quickly grabbed onto him again and he let her arm go.

"I'm so sorry!" Ashley said, "I couldn't do anything, I was helpless!"

"It's alright." Tanis said warmly. "We won't be passing through any more tornadoes any time soon. However, we are very close to arriving at our destination. The installation is a few more miles ahead, just below the clouds."

Ashley looked down, but could see nothing through the gray mists. She could feel that they were descending now, the moisture of the clouds were whizzing up past her face and condensing on it. She blinked as it dripped off of her eyelashes. They passed through the clouds for several minutes before finally passing through. Ashley stared in disbelief at what she saw below. The ground that was passing underneath them was a uniform, grey drab swampland. There were no trees visible as they descended, and the odd vulture was coasting on the warm updrafts. Small natural fires dotted the bleak landscape, burning the swamp gas as it rose. In the center of this gooey mess was an equally drab square of concrete pavement with several small buildings rising out of it. There was a small helipad near the buildings, as well as an airstrip a few feet away from that. As Ashley and Tanis approached, it also appeared abandoned.

"This place looks like a ghost town, are you sure we haven't found another dead hideout?" Ashley asked.

"I'm sure, I can sense them inside. Look, the grounds are perfectly maintained. If this place had been abandoned for any significant amount of time, the swamp would have already started engulfing it." Tanis said.

Ashley looked again and noticed that Tanis was indeed right. The borders of the paved ground were neatly kempt and the fence was free of rust and in proper shape. It rushed up toward them as Ashley examined the whole sight, wondering what they would find inside. They gently landed gently on their feet, and Ashley was vastly grateful to have solid ground under her feet again. It made her old, tight, ratty sneakers feel comfortable again.

The two of them walked around the seemingly empty complex until they reached a single steel door in the side of the lone concrete building. Ashley got out her trusty hairpin again and began picking the lock. She and Tanis both knew that knocking down the door would attract more attention than they would like. When the lock clicked open and the door swung freely, the passage beyond was not dark. A single, well lit corridor with a few doors proceeded about ten feet and turned away to the left. Ashley walked inside with Tanis following.

"Should we check these other rooms?" Ashley asked as they passed a few doors.

"No, the ones we seek are down below. Right now, time is of the essence and we need to capture one of them quickly and escape." Tanis said resolutely.

The two turned the corner and walked down an extremely long flight of stairs. They descended almost sixty feet before reaching another corridor. The fluorescent lights overhead filled the entire hallway well, and a lone circuit breaker box was all that broke the monotony of the smooth concrete walls of this corridor. They swiftly walked along it and turned left again to come across another flight of stairs leading down. More repetitive descent yielded them another long hallway with four doors on either side and one large door at the end.

Tanis suddenly surged forward down the hall and Ashley sprinted to keep up with him. The still air carried a strange smell, it reeked of some sort of strange chemical that Ashley couldn't identify, and it made her nervous. Tanis stopped in front of the door and observed it for a second. He tried the knob and it opened freely, and Ashley felt a welling of anticipation as the door swung open.

The room beyond was vast, almost four football fields square. In the center of the room was a giant aircraft of some sort, suspended in a latticework of supports and platforms. The craft had three sets of stubby steel wings and a set of the most cutting edge hover drives along the bottom. This type of propulsion had only started entering the markets, the rich all drove hover cars nowadays while the rest of the people were still Earthbound. The front of the craft was bristling with guns, little circular steel turrets covered the front of its fuselage and wings. It looked too incredibly to fly, and even if it could it would not be maneuverable at all. Ashley also noticed that there were several other smaller craft among the webs of supports and platforms, hover speeders not unlike those used by the postal service now, except these had guns on their fronts. There were a few of them sitting freely on the floor of the room as well. The end of the room was one titanic set of thick sliding steel doors.

Again Tanis sprung into action, he leapt down off of the platform that they were standing on, a twenty five foot drop to the floor below. Ashley saw him glow and rocket forward, curving into a straight forward flight path. She lost him among the forest of steel support poles and ladders which rose up to the vehicles hanging in the center of the room. Not wanting to be left behind, Ashley began to frantically climb down the stairs toward the floor. She heard crashes out inside the steel forest, as well as a few spurts of gunfire and an explosion. She felt sweat bead on her forehead and begin to drip down as she began to skip stairs and jump down four at a time.

When Ashley reached the bottom, there was another earth shaking explosion from somewhere far off across the room, and a blaring klaxon suddenly burst to life overhead. Deep crimson lights flashed down from the ceiling and Ashley looked around her in a frenzied fashion. There was another small explosion and suddenly Ashley heard a great groaning from the left side of the room where the doors were. She looked and saw that the immense steel doors were slowly sliding open, grinding the ground underneath them in the process.

Ashley suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and whipped around to see Tanis behind her. He was holding an unconscious man over his shoulder and had a look of one who had just committed a murder and was looking for a getaway car.

"Let's get out of here, now!" Tanis shouted into Ashley's mind.

Tanis and Ashley sprinted over to one of the hover speeders sitting idly on the floor and jumped on. Ashley punched the only obvious button and the machine's weight shifted as it rose off of the floor without a sound. Ashley grabbed the steering sticks and jammed them forward, and the craft suddenly leapt backward. She cursed loudly and reversed the vehicle.

"Let me drive." Tanis said suddenly.

Ashley didn't argue, she simply shifted seats with Tanis and held fast onto the leather as it molded to her form. Tanis' tail suddenly hit her in the face and she sighed in frustration as she shoved it to the side. Up above, a group of men suddenly burst through the door above and pointed Uzis down at them.

"Come on, go!" Ashley urged, resisting her urge to punch Tanis in the back.

Tanis pulled the sticks back and the craft soared forward through the air, past the still opening double doors and out over the swamp. They flew at dizzying speeds and the drab marshes ran past them in a grey blur. Ashley held tightly onto the unconscious man as they flew at unnecessarily high speeds over the mires.

"Why are we going so fast?" Ashley shouted as loud as she could over the whipping roaring winds of their speed.

"Look behind us." Tanis' voice said effortlessly in her mind.

Ashley glanced over her shoulder and saw four other speeders pursuing them, gaining ground rapidly on a direct intercept course. Ashley didn't say anything more, merely turning to face forward and pray for her life again. Already this day had been twice as stressful as yesterday, a precedent that had seemed hard to break.

**Chapter XXI – R6**

Ruru sat in the great circular theater of the Grand Hylian Courtroom and watched on in anxiety as her sister made her way to the accused's table. Already sitting there were Dregar of the Gorons and Abaim of the Sheikah, neither of which looked able to control their suppressed anger at the moment. Normally, the three of them would be sitting at the judging council table to be deciding fates, but now they were the accused and three extra seats were empty at the head of the courtroom. Sirpala appeared from the side of the courtroom and the audience rose to their feet.

"You may be seated." Sirpala said, the Royal Hylian crown glinting in the light from the windows of the grandiose courtroom.

A universal shuffling filled the room as everyone was seated. Iona, Rauru, and Anmor were seated at the judging council table with Sirpala, they watched her quietly as if to judger her like an accused as well.

"The charges leveled at these three leaders are as follows," Sirpala began, unrolling a scroll and looking down it with a slight look of malevolence in here eyes. "Illegal entry to Hyrule Castle outer grounds, Illegal entry to Hyrule Castle inner grounds, armed assault of four guards, and theft of 15,0034,129 Rupees. It is the court's intent to determine which of the accused stands guilty of these crimes."

Anmor's lips suddenly curved slightly into a tiny, devious grin. Ruru only caught a sidling glance of it, but she knew its significance and suddenly felt a burning rage in the pit of her heart.

"Now, if any of you would confess to the heinous acts, it would spare you a much more severe punishment, as well as much of our time and effort. Speak now." Sirpala said sternly.

None of the three accused raised their hands. Kalana maintained a blank expression, but it was all Dregar and Abaim could do to keep themselves from screaming with anger. They both shot venomous stares at Sirpala that would strike any other man down with fear for his life.

"No? Well then, let us bring in our first witness." Sirpala said.

A call reverberated through the courtroom as the first witness was summoned. The doors at the back swung open and a tall, lanky Hylian man with bandages all over his torso limped into the room. He approached the stand and swore an oath to truth.

"Now then, tell us everything you remember about the events of last night." Sirpala said, regarding the man with somewhat restrained sympathy.

"Well, it was another snoozer for us out there. I was playing a game of Keese n' Leevers with my bud Larne when we heard someone knocking on the door. We got our lances ready because we knew no-one ever visited the treasury at this time of night. When we opened the door everything happened at once. I saw Lorne take a sword to the arm and suddenly found one in my side. I fell to the ground and watched for a few moments as shadowy figures broke into the treasury and began to haul off Rupees in sacks. Then I passed out from the blow dealt to me." The man said.

Sirpala looked down at the man questioningly. "And could you describe the assailants?"

"I couldn't see much of them in the low light milady, and they were wearing black clothes that masked their features." The man replied.

"But, did you notice their size? Were they distinctly large and round, like that of a Goron?" Sirpala inquired.

"No milady, they were very slender from what I remembered." The man said.

"Very good," Sirpala said, pausing and looking down at Dregar. "Brother Dregar, you are hereby dismissed of all charges and are free to leave the court."

Dregar simply walked away from the accused's table, he had not sat because no Hylian chair could accommodate his great girth. He stepped gingerly over the fence that separated the audience from the court and sat staunchly in the aisle to watch.

"Now then," Sirpala said, regarding once more the bandaged man on the witness stand, "Do you remember the type of sword that the assailants attacked you with? Was it a scimitar or wrist blades?"

"I can't say Milady, all I could see in that flickering half-light was the glinting of their steel, not the form or shape of the blades. As I was being stabbed at the time, I didn't think I would need to try and see what type of blade I was dying upon."

"I see. Then you are dismissed of the witness stand, we have no further questions of you." Sirpala said coldly, a look of disappointment on her and Anmor's faces. "Call the next witness!" She cried.

As the first man squeezed past Dregar's massive sitting form, another man emerged from the courtroom doors and walked down the aisle. The two witnesses exchanged glances as they passed each other, and again Dregar snubbed the man as he tried to get through. When he finally reached the witness stand and swore the oath, the questioning began again.

"Now, tell us everything you remember of the events of last night." Sirpala said, a glimmer of anticipation in her eyes.

"Well Milady, it happened like this you see. I was patrollin' the inner Castle walls, doing the Stalchild Shift alone on that section of the wall. I was just mindin' my own business when I suddenly hear this rather loud clank behind me. I turn and see a rappellin' hook attached to the wall and I immediately rushed over to pull it free and send the criminal fallin'. But they got up over the wall first and I was suddenly struck in the leg with some sort of short blade and fell. Last thing I remember seein' before passin' out was a whole bunch of them passing me by on their way over the inner wall."

"You said a short blade? What kind?" Sirpala asked eagerly.

"I couldn't rightly see well in the dark, as I had dropped my torch as I was bein' stabbed. But it was definitely a very short sword, like somethin' you would wear on your wrist." The man replied.

A broad, malicious grin spread upon Anmor's face now, and Sirpala looked over at the two accused with a glow of malignance. She regarded the witness again.

"Sir, thank you for your testimony, you are dismissed." Sirpala said, then turned to face Abaim and Kalana.

"Elder Kalana, you are as well dismissed of all charges and are free to leave."

This was all that Abaim could take, he stood violently out of his seat and exploded at Sirpala.

"This court is a mockery of justice!" Abaim cried, pointing an accusing finger up at Sirpala.

"Is that what you think, Abaim of the Sheikah, after participating as a judge in it for over thirty years?" Sirpala said calmly and in a venomous tone.

"You cannot pass judgment on a man just through the type of weapons his people use! The Sheikah are not the only people to ever use wrist blades!" Abaim shouted, his deep voice booming through the flustered audience.

"But it has already been ruled out that it was not a party of Gorons who conducted the raid, and when have you ever heard of a Gerudo using a wrist blade?" Sirpala asked in an acidic, almost condescending and superior tone.

"I have!" Kalana's voice suddenly jumped through the air as she stood alongside Abaim.

"My people have used them before, never as a mainstay, but we always train with every type of weapon in order to be prepared!" Kalana said almost triumphantly.

"Is this a confession?" Sirpala asked nasally.

"No, but I do not believe that the Sheikah have done it!" Kalana said.

"Then do you think that the Gorons have somehow magically shrunk themselves to commit the raid?" Sirpala asked.

"N-no!" Kalana said, faltering.

"Then who did? Somebody had to have done it, and you're the only three with reason to have!" Sirpala snarled.

"They did it!" Abaim burst out, suddenly pointing at Anmor. A gasp traveled through the audience and Abaim looked totally shocked.

Nobody seemed to notice the shock and almost fear on Anmor's face except Ruru, they were all looking at either Sirpala or Abaim.

"Are you daft?" Sirpala roared down at Abaim. "What possible reason would lead him, my most trusted ally, to do such a thing?"

"I think he wants a reason to start a war!" Abaim said, still pointing and staring at Anmor.

"Enough of this!" Sirpala exploded, "You're obviously insane! I hereby sentence you to forty years of prison to begin immediately!"

"I won't stand for it!" Dregar suddenly exploded from the audience. More gasps rioted across the room. "I believe Abaim, Anmor's treachery is all that drives this court!"

"Very well then! Even though your innocence has been proven, I will gladly allow you to join Abaim in prison for an equal amount of time should you choose to join in his madness!" Sirpala raged, spittle flying from her mouth.

"It is not they who will rot in prison but you, for dealing false judgment and being unfit for ruling Hyrule!" Kalana suddenly shouted.

By now Sirpala's face was beet red, her long blonde hair was flapping around her head wildly as she looked at them individually. "This is a rebellion against the Hylian state! I'll have you all executed for treason!" She roared.

"No you will not, we will depose you from your position with the popular support of all our people. Majority rule." Abaim said, sweet satisfaction in his voice at the majority support he now had against Sirpala.

"None of you have any authority anymore!" Sirpala bellowed, "With the disbanding of the Hylian Unity Council you no longer hold any power to influence my government!"

"But if that were true, then you have no power to influence ours anymore either." Kalana said, with a sweet final sound.

Sirpala simply stared down at them, her rage boiling over and her face looking red enough to burst.

"War!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. "I will crush all of you with the armies of the Zora Mages!"

Iona suddenly stood up with a determined look and Sirpala turned to look at her with shock.

"Due to the disbanding of the Hylian Unity Council, I am no longer obliged to aid Hyrule in any way in any of its wars. I declare Zora neutrality in this conflict." Iona said calmly, and then strode confidently out of the courtroom.

Sirpala could only stand and stare at the door Iona had left through in shock. She then turned and looked down at Kalana, Abaim and Dregar with the purest of all loathings. She could do nothing now, her army could not stand up against the combined might of the Gorons, Sheikah and Gerudos.

"The Iresians announce that Sirpala has our total support in this conflict, including free use of all 30,000 men that we have." Anmor said, smiling evilly.

Sirpala looked over at him for a moment and then looked back down at her three enemies with renewed pleasure.

"I will enjoy crushing each and every one of your peoples!" She said like a spider says to a newly ensnared fly. She turned away from them and shouted again. "Guards! Seize them!"

Suddenly everyone in the courtroom audience was on their feet, struggling to escape the tussle. Hylian soldiers wearing bright steel armor burst into the room, and Dregar let out a booming bellow while pounding his meaty fists against his massive chest. The soldiers charged forward at him with their lances but he simply knocked them away like rag dolls. He then thundered out the door of the courtroom, followed by Abaim, Kalana and Ruru.

**Chapter XXII – I6**

Isaac approached the newly constructed wooden wall that now encircled the Town on Kibombo. The logs rose twenty feet from the Earth evenly and all had sharpened tips. The cool pink first light of dawn was peeking into the sky, the stars were starting to fade and thin lines of restless clouds frittered their short lives away. Isaac approached a door in the wall and firmly rapped it three times. There was a shuffling behind the door and a voice crawled out of the thin, pervasive darkness.

"Whoever you are and whatever business, you are not welcomed in Kibombo at this hour! Every inn and shop are closed." The voice said rudely, giving the distinct impression that its owner had just been roused from a comfortable sleep.

"I do not have time for this, I am looking for a party of seven adepts and one scholar. Tell me right now if you have seen them or not." Isaac said gruffly.

"Why should I? It's nearly dawn and you'll find out eventually once the sun comes up! Just find a place to bed down and come back in the morning!" The voice behind the wall said, now thoroughly irritated.

"I told you, I don't have time for this!" Isaac growled. "I have places to go and things to do!" Isaac said this even not knowing what these things were as of yet, but his mind was being gripped by the continual energy of directionless hurriedness.

"I don't care, I'm going back to bed." the man behind the wall said. Isaac heard his footsteps trail off.

Isaac sized up the wooden wall, figuring out how much psynergy it would take to undermine it with his Earth abilities. He decided that it would cause too much of an uproar to do it, and he might be attacked by the guards. Instead, he sat in front of the wall and looked up into the sky and waited. As he ran his eyes over the quickly fading stars, something caught his attention. There was a tiny, almost hair-thin line that bisected the sky. It was almost invisible as it crossed the heavens from horizon to horizon. Isaac could not even try to understand or comprehend what it was, but he knew that it had never been there before and that something strange was going on. He simply sat there and stared at it, for ten minutes, then an hour, and then four hours. It became much easier to see as more light flooded the sky, giving it more contrast against the rest of the heavens. He never even felt slightly sleepy at all as he simply sat there and observed the line in the sky, it was as if his body had lost all need to sleep. By the time the light of dawn had filled the sky, he heard activity within the walls begin to stir up and he stood and approached the door. When he knocked again, he was answered with a completely different voice.

"Who are you and what is your business?" A woman's voice snapped from within.

"I am Isaac, and I am searching for a party of mixed adepts and one scholar."

"I think those who you are looking for have been in town." The woman said, and the door in the wall swung open.

Isaac didn't even bother to thank the dark skinned woman as he walked past her into the town. He marched straight toward the Inn with the purpose and intent of some great willed beast. He flung the Inn's door open and stopped at the innkeeper's table rather abruptly.

"Did a party of adepts and a scholar stay here last night?" Isaac asked forcefully.

"Uh yeah, they left around ten minutes ago; they said that they were going to get breakfast down at the pub." The innkeeper said tentatively.

Isaac merely stared at the Innkeeper's beard for a moment and then swept out the door again without thanks. He walked briskly across the town, knocking over one person who was in his way. The man shouted at him in anger, but Isaac simply ignored him. Isaac found the pub and slammed the door open. Inside he saw all eight of his friends gathered around a massive table, palest full of food in front of them.

"Isaac you're alive!" Jenna burst out. She ran up to him and hugged him tight as a vice grip, suddenly sobbing into his cloak.

"My goodness, you're alright! It's so wonderful to see you again!" Felix said.

Isaa was suddenly surrounded by his companions again, all at once. Jenna had latched onto him like a leech, Mia had kissed him on the cheek, Piers gave him a sound slap on the back, and Garet shook his hand. It was what Isaac had traveled so far for, but something was wrong. He was still hollow inside, none of his friends' support made him feel any better, it all just seemed squandered time to him now.

"Why did you leave me?" Isaac suddenly said in an icy tone.

Jenna unlatched from him and looked up at him as if he had just slapped her.

"I'm so sorry Isaac, we thought you were dead. When Alex blackmailed us into giving him all our Djinni, he said he was going to go kill you anyway. We thought it meant your end, and Kraden thought it wise to slip away from Alex when we had the chance...so," Jenna said, her voice trailing off into sadness.

"Come now, sit down and tell us! What happened with you and Alex?" The grey bearded scholar said.

Isaac sat down in a spare chair and began to retell the events as he knew them from first waking up underneath the ruins of Magma Rock. Though his tale was a fascinating one indeed, Isaac's tone of voice and manner of attitude made everyone uncomfortable. When Isaac finished telling his story, Piers suddenly leaned over the table close to him.

"Well, do you suppose we could have all our Djinni back now?" Piers asked, trying to be nonchalant as Isaac stared at him with cold, unfeeling eyes.

Isaac paused for a moment as his old self and new self battled out inside his head. His newfound lust for power won, and he responded tersely and coldly, "No."

There was an extremely strained silence over the table as everyone else let Isaac's words soak in. Nobody could believe what they were hearing, Isaac was normally a kind, generous person. Suddenly Ivan burst out laughing.

"Good one Isaac! You did a bang up job at keeping a straight face through that one!" Ivan said, smiling genuinely and trying to break the venomous silence.

"I'm serious. I've worked too hard to gain these only to lose them again." Isaac said without caring that these were the same exact words that Alex had used before.

The fork that Ivan was holding suddenly dropped to his plate, and again the noxious silence simmered in the air as all the party members stared aghast at Isaac's words. Then, Garet stood and walked over to Isaac's chair.

"You're not the Isaac I knew all my life." Garet said, looking down at Isaac's seated figure with contempt. "The Isaac I knew was a caring, considerate, generous person who didn't care about power!"

Isaac stood to face his lifelong friend down and scowled. "The old Isaac was a fool, he only wanted to dink around doing nothing real or significant throughout his life! And now that I have the power to make real changes in the world, you would have me give it up?"

"The old Isaac didn't just dink around with his life, he saved the world twice! Doesn't that mean anything to you now?" Garet said, his anger becoming apparent.

"So what if he simply preserved the current state that the world was in. I can change it all, make it mine!" Isaac said, raising his arms up to the ceiling. Other patrons of the bar began to stare.

"Don't you see what's happening to you? You're being consumed by a hunger for power! It is dangerous and the only solution is for you to put down the power that you have gained! Let natural balance return!"

"Why should I care about natural balance? Why, when I can create a perfect world of my own?" Isaac said, on the verge of breaking into maniacal laughter.

Suddenly, Sheba, Jenna, Mia and Felix all stood up at once. Jenna, who was the closest, smartly slapped Isaac across the face.

"Look at yourself! You're turning into Alex!" Jenna shouted.

Isaac slowly turned to face Jenna, rage now boiling in his system.

"How dare you strike me? How dare you strike the most powerful man in the world!" Isaac bellowed.

Isaac raided his hands and summoned a ball of fire and blasted Jenna backwards. Jenna smashed onto a card table where four men were eating breakfast and playing a game of poker. Isaac suddenly felt steel pressed against his neck and turned to see Felix holding the Sol Blade just next to his vertebrae.

"Don't ever co that to my friends again!" Felix growled.

"Why should I do what you say? I can destroy you all at whim!" Isaac laughed.

"You wouldn't!" Sheba asked, her face very pale.

"Watch me!" Isaac shouted. He pulled out four Venus Djinni from under his cloak and tossed them up into the air.

The four stout little creatures emitted wisps of energy as they summoned Judgment from the Angel of Destruction above. Their bodies glowed brown for a moment and then fell still and lifeless into Isaac's hand.

"Your last lesson in this life, never bluff the most powerful man in the world!" Isaac cackled, and then used Alex's old teleporting psynergy to disappear.

A/N: So now Ashley and Tanis are caught up in a high speed chase, war has come to Hyrule, and absolute power has corrupted Isaac absolutely. How will the chase end? What will happen in the Hylian war's first battle? What will Isaac do next? Read and enjoy, and do please review!


	9. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 8

**Legacies  
**A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Wow, things have been incredibly tough for me. I had to drop a class because of the grades I was getting in it. I've been fighting with my grades just a fiercely as Darkest and Lightest fought each other. I haven't gained any ground either, so expect the long delays between chapters to continue. I haven't lost yet though! So even though it might be two to three weeks between chapters, I'll never quit my writing! Enjoy this especially long 16 page chunk, it should make up for the wait!

**Chapter XXIII – T6**

The chattering barks of gunfire reported loudly behind Tanis as he flew the speeder across the marsh. Without hesitation, he raised an orange energy shield around himself and Ashley to block the bullets. He could almost feel them pinging off of it ineffectually. Ahead, a tree suddenly appeared in front of them. Tanis barely had time to swerve the craft around it, the branches whipped his shield violently. Their pursuers dodged it easily and continued to fire.

More shots bounced off of Tanis' shield, and he had to swerve around another set of trees. He suddenly sensed something very large approaching fast from behind. He turned his head to look, only to see the terrifying form of the gigantic craft that had been suspended back in the hangar. It was rocketing up toward them at a colossal speed, and Tanis pulled the controls to the left as hard as he could. The craft turned by almost ninety degrees in the span of less than five seconds. Ashley shrieked and nearly lost her grip, but Tanis locked his tail around her waist to much of his own physical pain. The giant airship soared past them and its wake caused them to spin wildly. Tanis regained control quickly and oriented the craft away from the base once more. The giant airship slowed to their speed and hovered alongside them. Its turrets all turned to face Tanis, and he looked up at them and frowned.

"Hang on!" Tanis shouted into Ashley's mind. He jammed hard right and the speeder did another wrenching turn. But the airship turned to follow them. Its turrets barked and spat howitzer sized shells at them.

Tanis jerked the controls left and right, and the speeder zigzagged like a dizzy ant. The shells burst in the air around them, missing harmlessly. Tanis felt large amounts of human energy in the near distance, most likely a city. He decided to direct them there, law enforcement might stop their pursuers. He pushed the controls into the floor and the nose of the speeder suddenly leapt upward. It did a perfect loop in the air, and Tanis heard Ashley retching as they turned upside down. Black pockmarks of smoke filled the air around them from the detonation of shells. More bullets ricocheted off of Tanis' shield as the other pursuing speeders finally caught up with him. He saw silver spires slowly rising up out of the distance, the swamp had faded away to flat plains. He pushed the speeder's little hover drives as far as they would go, and the city approached rapidly. Tanis veered around another tree, and one of the pursuing speeders which was following them too closely slammed directly into it in a ball of fire. The turrets on the gunship barked again and Tanis felt his shield nearly shatter under a direct blow.

A road suddenly passed them as they approached the city, and then another. Tanis dodged a car, swinging around it with only a few inches of clearance. The other three speeders dodged it as well, and the gunship's fire hit it as they passed. Tanis felt sorry for the poor man who had been inside when it exploded. He directed the speeder along the roads, more and more small buildings whizzed past them. One of the pursuing speeders crashed into a gas station serving regular cars, and the explosion mushroomed up into the sky. Tanis followed the road to a highway onramp and swept into the stream of traffic. His speeder was going nearly twice as fast as the earthbound cars, and he elegantly weaved through and around them. The other speeders followed the same pattern behind him and the gunship simply flew overhead, strafing the whole scene with heavy fire. Many civilian cars burst into flames under the withering fire that the gunship was pouring down at Tanis ineffectually. A car exploded directly in front of Tanis and again he pulled the speeder's nose upward to leap directly over the fiery wreck. They began passing through downtown, and the gunship was forced to fly up above the skyline.

The skyscrapers of the city were almost a mile tall; the whole metropolitan environment had been constructed within the past few years using more advanced building techniques. The gunship flew above them, not able to fire on Tanis' little speeder. The other two speeders eagerly followed him however. Tanis veered crazily between the ground bound vehicles, trying to throw off his pursuers. Their machine guns cracked again and cars nearest to Tanis were suddenly perforated. Tanis decided that this was getting them nowhere and was only destroying innocent lives. He suddenly dove left through an opening and out into the city streets.

The streets of the city were extraordinarily narrow as compared to the freeway. Tanis had to pull off gut twisting turns every few seconds just to keep them from flying into buildings. Street lamps, signs, and pedestrians all blurred past him as he flew through the grid of concrete in random patterns. His pursuers barely kept up with him, and he madly circled one building four times to try and lose them. Tanis heard the sound of high pitched sirens and turned to see blue and white speeders with red flashing lights had joined the chase. They were coming up fast on the men that were chasing Tanis, and Tanis decided it would be a good idea to try and escape while letting the law deal with his pursuers.

Tanis turned another series of corners and came upon a dead end, a glittering glass wall stood ahead of him. He couldn't turn in such a narrow space, and braking at this speed was impossible. He saw one single open window in the buildings shining façade, and knew they would die anyway if he tried it or not. He pulled the speeder's nose up and aimed into the open window.

The speeder was too big for the window, and Tanis' shield smashed the glass around them as they passed through. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Tanis pulled and pushed on the controls. He turned around a corner, past a line of cubicles, and knocked a man carrying coffee onto his rear. The speeder begrudgingly swerved around a ninety degree corner and sped down another hallway. Clear glass of more windows was up ahead, Tanis pushed on forward and broke through. The glass rained around them, breaking over his shield as time returned to normal in Tanis' senses. He sped through the streets now unopposed, but only for a moment.

More sirens screamed through the air as police hover cars rushed up behind him. Tanis could feel Ashley clinging to his tail like she had to his arm during their tornado ride. Tears of pain rolled down his cheeks as his tail burned in agony. He twisted around multiple corners, but the police speeders were faster than his. Their guns suddenly burst to life and even more bullets bounced off of his shield.

"Trust me on this, and don't let go!" Tanis shouted to Ashley. He saw an open sewer access ahead, and he yanked the controls as hard as he could. The machine nosedived down the narrow hole and into the darkness.

Ashley screamed at the very top of her voice, and Tanis pushed as hard as he could on the brakes. The machine slowed to a stop as they emerged into the main sewer line. Water of unpleasant colors and odors rushed below them. Tanis held the car there, hovering as he flipped on his mechanical arm's light. He surveyed the tunnel slowly, not suspecting what was lying right behind him. He and Ashley both gasped in surprise when the light swept over three more of the sleek speeders from the hangar hovering in the wide open tunnel behind them. As soon as they were illuminated, these little vehicles let loose with their guns as well. Tanis jerked his speeder's controls around and gunned the engines. He sped down the sewer tunnel with a new set of men in tow.

Tanis sped around multiple dark corridors, past gushing waters and over whirlpools. The stench would normally have been unbearable, but nobody involved in the pursuit noticed, as their attentions were occupied with the pursuit itself. Tanis turned around one last corner, and a light suddenly shone in the tunnel ahead. He maxed out the engines again, spraying the sewage back at his opponents in his wake. The light sped up at them and consumed them.

Tanis felt himself flying in free fall through the air. His eyes adjusted to see that they had emerged out the tunnel into mid air. The fall below them was thousands of feet to a lake of sewage. The speeder, only designed to hover, not fly, plummeted with them. Tanis made a split second decision that saved his and Ashley's lives, he grabbed Ashley and let go of the speeder as it fell. He caught them with his power and they flew onward as all four of the enemy speeders fell away behind him. He looked back on them and sighed in relief. The city had ended at the cliff, the sewer pipe had emerged from the cliff face underneath the city and dumped onto the empty land below. The gunship appeared from over the city and began to approach them at an astounding speed.

Tanis let them fall rapidly to avoid the ramming action of the gunship. They free fell all the way down to the tree line of a forest below. Tanis twisted and turned between trees and thick foliage, only to have branches smash and crack his shield repeatedly. He decided it was too dangerous to fly in the trees and emerged above the greenery. As soon as he did, the gunship which had flown down to meet them opened fire. Shells burst around them and shredded trees to ribbons. Tanis cursed and took evasive maneuvers.

Tanis flew them around to the top of the gunship and tried to stay out of its turrets' reaches, but the ship would just readjust its speed to bring him into firing zones. Tanis' energy was rapidly depleting again, he couldn't hold his shield and fly at the same time for much longer. He then heard the screaming of sonic jets and suddenly there was a tremendous explosion.

The gunship erupted into a massive orb of flames and a sonic shockwave threw Tanis through the air like a rag doll. As he reoriented himself, he saw a trail of smoke that had appeared in the air, he followed it with his eyes to see three King Raptor jet fighters flying off into the distance. No doubt they had just shot the gunship down.

Tanis would have felt relieved if he hadn't sensed something coming up right behind him at the speed of sound. He suddenly dropped his flight and fell straight into the trees. Five missiles shrieked by overhead, followed instantaneously by a sonic boom as more Raptors screamed past. Tanis had technically posed a threat to the city as well, so he understood the humans' reactions. He simply floated back up over the trees and watched as the planes disappeared over the horizon.

Tanis suddenly felt more energy in the air, presences were descending from above. He looked up and saw only a few specks in the sky. These specks grew rapidly as they descended, and hundreds and hundreds more of them appeared. The nearest ones suddenly became distinguishable as more of gunships of the same type as the one that had almost killed Tanis and Ashley. Other aircraft were appearing, small jet fighters very much distinguishable from the ones the human military had flown. They were all painted in red, and Tanis noticed something as they came closer; there were emblems painted on all of their sides. They were three swords, dripping with blood, crossed and inside a hexagon. The gunship from the hangar that had chased them had been half done with its paint job, and the emblem was being stenciled on by the men as he had assaulted them in the hangar.

As Tanis realized the serious nature of the predicament they were now in, another item suddenly clicked in his mind. He saw that all of these aircraft, as they descended, were appearing from the small black line in the sky. Tanis saw it clearly, they were coming from it and it alone, and as he watched another larger one appeared. It grew rapidly, even as it was still only far away. It flew down and came to rest over the city on the cliff a few miles behind them. It was as big as the city itself, it cast a shadow over the normally shining towers. It hovered there and began to emit smaller dots, more fighters and gunships were emerging from inside its hulls.

Tanis dove down under the trees as one of the gunships passed overhead. He found Ashley sitting on the ground, her fingers in her mouth as she chewed away at her nails. Her eyes were still wide with terror, as if she were reliving the chase again and again. She rocked back and forth like an infant in a crib, whispering incoherently as she chewed her nails to stubs.

"Come out of it Ashley, we're in serious trouble!" Tanis said to her.

Ashley looked up at him, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Please don't ever make me live through that again!" She screamed at him, suddenly pulling on her own hair.

Tanis knew the nature of human frailty, but this was the first time he had experienced it face to face. "We need to find one of your people's military bases to warn them what's about to happen." Tanis said still remaining calm.

The look of anger and terror on Ashley's face paused for a moment and she looked at him quizzically. Her pale face and wind whipped hair made her look like something akin to a banshee. "What's about to happen?" She asked, her voice quiet with new fear.

Tanis lifted them both up above the leafy sea and pointed to the giant carrier hovering over the city. Its bottom had opened up completely, and a sickly red glow was pouring down from inside the ship. Energy collected for a few brief moments until a pulse of red energy spewed from the hole in the ship and fell into the city. A shockwave rushed through the air above them, and suddenly the silver towers of the city disappeared into an orange and red cloud of destruction.

"That's about to happen to every major city in the world, I'm sure of it." Tanis said, his psychic voice still strangely calm.

**Chapter XXIV – R7**

"No, the catapults should be emplaced in front of the attack group to allow easier aiming at targets behind the castle wall!" Dregar said stubbornly, looking down at the tactical map on the table in the center of the Great Hall of the Gerudo Palace.

"They will be easier targets for the Hylian archers though! The ones operating them will be filled with arrows before the first round could fire!" Abaim said hotly.

The four Hylian Delegates; Dregar, Abaim, Kalana and Iona, along with Apprentice Ruru, were sitting at the table and pondering the map that had been splayed out for all to see. Hyrule Castle and its inner cities were displayed in minute detail, and the Goron, Gerudo and Zora forces were being arranged into formations as the first siege was planned. It had already been decided that the Gorons, with their rock hard skin and great physical strength and endurance, should be shot over the Castle walls with catapults. A debate was raging now on the placement of said catapults.

"We could solve that problem by raising magic shields around the catapult engineers! We would only need to fire a couple rounds of my people into the castle in order to cause chaos within their defenses, more than enough to create a significant distraction to assault the main gate!"

"Yes, but it would use quite a lot of magic to sustain a feat like that for too long, even with aid from Zora Mages." Iona said, foresight in her words.

"Why don't we put the catapults back far enough so that they can avoid arrow fire, yet still not too far away?" Ruru suddenly asked.

"That would normally be a good idea," Iona said reassuringly and a bit condescendingly. "But that would place them in the middle of our forces and break our formations."

"So, remake your formations around them." Ruru said, still trying not to be frustrated at how everyone was treating her.

"Again you presume to know more about warfare then us, young apprentice. You're here at this meeting only to observe, not to tell us what to do!" Dregar said in a most resentful and angry manner.

"But she's right, sometimes you need to be flexible, especially in battle!" Kalana said, rising to her sister's defense.

Dregar only shrugged. He looked down at the map and then swept all the little stone figurines off of it in one stroke, obviously showing anger at having to toss out all his strategic planning.

Iona reached over the table and set the line of catapults at the correct distance from the castle's walls. She and Kalana rearranged the troop figurines into regular phalanx formations and square formations around the catapults.

"Now, sometime during the siege we should expect some insignificant amount of Iresian forces to come to Sirpala's aid." Kalana began. "It could be anywhere from a couple hundred to a full thousand, but we all know it won't be the full thirty thousand. So, we should leave a number of Gerudo or Goron fighters on our flanks and rear to defend against any Iresian attacks. The only way that they would get troops into Hyrule without any of us noticing is if they moved them down and around to Lake Hylia. Should they come directly from the Western Sea and over the desert and plains, my people would be able to see them coming far in advance. Should they try and approach from the East, then they either have to pass through the Deku Forest or over the Zora's reservoir. Either way, they would be spotted quickly. Death Mountain and all the areas north of Hyrule Castle and the Zora's domain are impassable to any significant armies. Trying to scale Death Mountain's face is like asking for someone to spoon lava into your face. The mountains north of Hyrule castle provide the perfect wall against large groups of men and beasts, and they curve all the way back down to end at the start of the Gerudo plains. The Iresians' only logical point of entry is straight South, at lake Hylia where the Zora's River Collects at the Water Temple. They will gather there, between the lake's shores and the borders of the Deku forest, so we must either keep a contingent of troops there to fight them off or be prepared for a general assault on the rear of our besieging forces."

Iona nodded, admiring the logic and wisdom that Kalana had demonstrated.

"I agree. I think it would be most prudent and effective however, to move a contingent down south to that point of entry instead of spreading them around our besieging force. It would allow a smaller amount of forces to defend the area more effectively at a choke point like that." Dregar said.

"But you should remember, they will not hesitate to move through the forest or desert once their presence should be detected. They would fan out into the protective cover of forest trees, or scatter into the desert like ants and be impossible to track down individually. The only thing creating this virtual choke point is their possible element of surprise. We know that Anmor has something up his sleeve, and we've effectively convinced him that we think he has nothing. Due to that, he'll want to catch us by surprise and the only way to do so will be through the area Kalana just mentioned. As soon as he knows that we've found out his little plans, his forces will instead use the forests and plains as multiple entry points, not worried about being seen. It would be a hindrance for us at most, we could end up fighting him out of our land for months even after the siege." Abaim said.

"What course of action would you then suggest?" Iona asked.

"I think that we need to give him his little illusion of surprise. Let him leak into Hyrule through our choke point and prepare to attack our siege. As soon as he does, we will have multiple hidden contingents attack from the forests and plains to convince him that they are not suitable hiding places. He would be forced to retreat and our siege would continue without even a hindrance." Abaim said, suddenly sticking his toothpick into the paper map at the center of the Deku Forest.

"But that plan in itself would cause hindrance to our siege, the contingents you would need for it would rob our main assault force of needed men to attack the castle with!" Dregar said in a frustrated tone.

"That would only really cause a slight prolonging of the siege, nothing more. The plan I am proposing would only slow the siege temporarily in order to prevent Abaim's forces from digging into hiding spots inside the forest. The results outweigh the costs." Anmor said.

"All in favor!" Kalana shouted heartily.

"I!" Was the resounding call from Kalana, Iona and Abaim. Dregar remained silent, crossing his arms in disapproval.

Kalana grabbed some of the figurines and pulled them from the main assault. She put them in the forest in random locations, all facing into Hyrule Field. The main assault force at the castle lost almost one fourth of its strength.

"Through all this, what do you have to contribute?" Dregar asked of Abaim, looking over at the slender Sheikah man expectantly. "This war is about your people, so what do you have to offer?"

"You should know that my people have not really recovered from our near obliteration so many years ago! There are hardly enough of us left to populate a town of the size of Lon-Lon Town! We cannot afford to lose even one person!"

Dregar shook his head and frowned with a frown that seemed to split his rocky face. His unkempt grey eyebrows dangled down over his beady black Goron eyes and he scrunched his face together with worry.

"My people are the workhorses of this fighting force, do you think we are going to fare well either?" Dregar asked of Abaim anew. "Us and the Gerudos. Even the Gerudos don't have very many fighters, it us up to us to provide most of this army's brute strength! We are going to take serious losses, even at the hands of the inferior Hylian forces! All I ask is that you at least acknowledge your presence in this alliance by sending something along! All I ask is a symbolic representation so that we can appease whatever Hylian person who might ask us after the siege; 'Why?'"

"Very well, I can be flexible. I will represent my people in battle." Abaim said.

"So we are ready then." Kalana said, smiling as Dregar and Abaim shook hands.

"Aye, in but a few short days the Gorons will be fitted for war and ready to tumble down Death Mountain with spears at their sides." Dregar said, almost laughing at the thought.

"My mages have been meditating for several days now, preparing their bodies to endure the long periods of time out of water." Iona said. "The Zoras will be ready in two days."

"I am ready to fight now, should the need be." Abaim said, fingering the wrist blades that were sheathed at his hips.

"The Gerudos have organized and our scimitars are sharp. When all are ready, we will march upon Hyrule Castle!" Kalana said.

"To victory!" Dregar cried, and the four allies heartily shouted in chorus.

**Chapter XXVa – I7**

Isaac watched in full satisfaction as the tiny, almost unnoticeable speck of energy fell from the sky toward Kibombo. It was hard to imagine what kind of destruction would come in such a tiny package, but Isaac had used it plenty of times before and was now quite adjusted to the way it worked. As the bright little diamond touched down in the center of Kibombo, a flash blinded him as the energy de4tonated. A great orb of white glowing destruction engulfed the town within a fraction of a second. At least three hundred lives wisped out of existence as men, women and children were vaporized instantaneously. The shockwave from the blast passed Isaac by, following the universal rule that a summoned attack cannot harm its summoner. When the smoke cleared, Kibombo and its surrounding fields were now nothing more than a crater.

What was left of the old Isaac collapsed and finally gave in under grief and despair. His new self completely took control and he walked away from the crater nonchalantly. He didn't know where he was going or how he would get there, but the power propelling him made all idleness uncomfortable to him. He decided that he needed to change the world in some way, make it perfect and obedient to him. He was sick and tired of all the conflict and dissent in the world, he wanted to unite Weyward under one rule. He knew he had enough power to accomplish this task, but an inner lust for even more power crept through his mind and convinced him he needed to gather more power in order to achieve his ultimate goal. The Djinni he know owned allowed him to use psynergy from all four elements, but he still only had mastered the Venus Element to its full potential. He decided that he would make it his next goal to master all forms of psynergy.

Isaac set his headings back North toward the ruins of Magma rock once more. He would need the Blaze Psynergy in order to master the Mars Element, and he knew that the ancient tablet containing blaze's secrets must still be intact somewhere under the Earth. He vowed to recover it, even if it meant boring down through hundreds of feet of volcanic rock. He swept off into the north with speed unmatched by any of Weyward's finest runners.

**Chapter XXVb – J1**

Jenna sat panting on the floor of the crater that had been Kibombo. She and the others had survived through a concerted effort, they had used their psynergies to raise a shield at the last moment to save their lives. Isaac's summon had been powerful, but not strong enough to overwhelm the combined power of her and her friends. They had hidden themselves in the crater's shadow using an invisibility psynergy until Isaac had left, and now they were simply recuperating in the crater's bottom, trying to recover their energy.

A deep sadness welled up in Jenna's heart, she sat and cried that she hadn't been able to save the people of Kibombo. A burning anger was also welling up in her, anger at Isaac betraying her. They had been companions for over a year and a half, fighting to save the world from destruction and Alex's Conquest, and now Isaac had stabbed her in the back and run off to follow in Alex's footsteps. She could not understand why he was doing this, it was totally against his nature, and it threw her into a deep despair and an uncontrollable fury.

"Why, why, why?" Jenna cried, holding her face in her hands.

"He's not Isaac anymore." Garet stated firmly, anger burning in his eyes as well. "He's Isaac in name only now, he is no longer the person I spent my childhood with, nor the man who I fought alongside against Saturos, Menardi, and everyone else we battled against. He's our enemy now, and I will make him see his ways in the light that he used to see the world through."

Felix stumbled to his feet and patted Jenna on the back weakly. "Something is wrong with him, I could sense it. Something was influencing him, normally he could resist such lusts for power. Something has weakened his willpower against it, and now he has given into it and become just like Alex. The only thing we can do is to steal the Djinni from him and hope that it will reverse these effects on him. If that doesn't work, we may have to end his life."

Jenna burst into a new round of sobs and Garet turned away from Felix, hunching over and containing his emotions.

"Are you alright Kraden?" Piers asked, grabbing the grayed scholar's arm and helping him up.

"A bit banged up, but I'll be alright." Kraden mumbled, slowly brushing the dirt off of his long brown robes. "I must say that it was an interesting shift of perspective to experience the Judgment Summon firsthand like that."

"I'm sure the people of Kibombo enjoyed it even more." Jenna hissed, agitated at the nonchalant attitude that Kraden was having toward a situation that involved many innocent deaths.

Kraden just shook his head in an addled fashion and mumbled to himself, as if he had suddenly tried to apologize but then reconsidered it while in the middle of saying it.

"What are we going to do now?" Sheba asked, fidgeting with her staff and looking around idly at everyone.

"We need to figure out a way to stop Isaac and get the Djinni from him. Right now it seems any direct approach would be futile, seeing as he nearly killed us all with Judgment." Felix said, regarding Sheba while trying not to show emotions.

"You talk about him like he were Alex," Mia sputtered, "It's disgusting."

"Don't you see, he has become Alex!" Jenna suddenly shouted, "We will be doing him a favor by putting him out of his misery! His family will forgive us and understand due to the circumstances!"

"But don't you think there's a way to appeal to his old self without killing him! I know I might be naïve in saying this, but I don't want to lose Isaac!" Ivan said. Mia nodded in agreement.

"Well, if you can think up this magic little solution then be my guest! Run it past me for gods' sake!" Jenna raved, waving her staff in the air.

No-one spoke, and Jenna nodded and sat down, sadness still sinking into her heart. She couldn't believe she was advocating the death of her best friend, but she knew it was the best for him at heart.

"He hasn't detected us yet," Felix said, slowly climbing the crater wall, "I can sense him. His power is immense and it makes him easy to track. He's heading… Northeast!"

"But that would bring him back to the remains of Magma Rock!" Ivan said, sounding alarmed and confused.

"He must be trying to do the same thing that Alex almost accomplished, he's going to collect all the Elemental Master Psynergies!" Kraden said.

"Do you think that the Blaze Psynergy tablet made it through the meteor blast?" Sheba asked.

"No doubt, it and its brothers of the other three elements have powerful protective psynergies cast on them. They have lasted for centuries, I doubt one would crack under a few feet of rock." Kraden replied.

"Should we pursue him and stop him?" Piers asked.

"No, we've already decided that a facing him down would just lead to another failure. We either need to gather enough power to be as strong as him, or to influence him subtly." Felix said.

"How would we do that?" Ivan asked.

"I haven't thought of that yet, but it's obvious that the direct approach is most definitely not the solution." Felix responded.

There was more silence until Garet suddenly spoke up. "We're already powerful together as a team, and we survived through his little summon pretty well already, so we shouldn't have to gather much more power to match him, should we?"

"But, remember in his story, he told us of that golden triangle that came down from the sky to give him power? He still has it, meaning that no matter what we cook up, he will always be one league above us." Piers said morosely.

"Then we've got to find a way to influence him indirectly, but how?" Kraden said, and all of the party sat and pondered for a long time.

**Chapter XXVI - A7**

Ashley felt the cool, liquid presence in her mind once more as Tanis calmly read it. She had seen what had happened to the nameless city on the cliff top, and now she feared the same would happen to her parent's home. She had told Tanis to look into her mind to obtain an image of Saffron City, the place where her parents now lived, so that he could teleport them there. As the feeling receded, Ashley felt Tanis grab her arm and the world shifted around her.

Again, it felt as if Ashley's insides had all switched places, but she pushed the feeling away as the world reformed around them. They appeared in the sky miles above the city, amongst the thick clouds.

"Why did you put us up here?" Ashley asked irritably.

"I… didn't." Tanis replied, seemingly baffled. "Something interrupted my concentration, a foreign energy here. Nonetheless, we should descend quickly to warn your family."

Ashley nodded and gripped Tanis' arm tightly as they began their descent. The clouds whizzed past them in a frenzied fashioned as they plummeted like stones. When they passed out of the clouds, a terrifically terrifying sight was waiting for them. A humongous airship, the same kind that had destroyed the last city, was slowly descending down toward the city below. Ashley looked down at its top deck; there were hundreds of gunships lined up along a runway that striped the ship's top. Smaller fightercraft were intermingled, and they were all lining up to take off. The ship's massive bulk eclipsed Saffron City in its entirety below, leaving a rectangular shadow on the Earth.

"Faster!" Ashley cried, gripping Tanis tighter.

Tanis kicked into high gear, not letting just gravity do all the work. He powered his flight energy into full blast, leaving a glowing orange contrail in their wake as their descent speed quadrupled. The massive ship passed them almost casually, Ashley saw other smaller ships beginning to emerge. Fighters and gunships curved down to follow them as they rocketed toward the ground.

"They've seen us! Hurry!" Ashley shouted against the roaring, whipping wind.

"Which one is your parents' house?" Tanis asked as the suburbs screamed up to meet them.

Ashley concentrated on pushing her memory on Tanis, and apparently his mind listened. As they were about to crash into the ground, Tanis pulled up in a erratic manner to align their path parallel to the ground. The fighters accelerated behind them and began to catch up. The wind strung Ashley's eyes like scorpion tails had been jammed between her squinting eyelids. They decelerated with a sickening jolt and Ashley felt ground smack her knees and hands. She opened her eyes and saw her parents' small ranch house just in front of them. The double car garage door was open, and black tarps were hanging from the ceilings inside. Her father stepped out from between them, his eternally spiky black hair still as youthful as ever.

"Ashley?" Her father asked confusedly.

"Get down!" Ashley screamed, jumping to her feet and dashing toward her father.

Ashley knocked her father off of his feet and rolled him behind a wooden flat that was hanging amongst the tarps. Tanis landed just behind her and the rattling of machine guns filled the air. The were violent thwapping and cracking noises as lines of bullets perforated the concrete of the driveway. The wooden flat was suddenly halved as bullets ripped through its midsection. Ashley screamed, expecting death. The bullets stopped suddenly, and the sonic boom of the jet passed over the house.

"Ashley, what the hell is going on?" Her father said, rubbing the back of his head.

"No time to explain dad, we've got to get to a fallout shelter! This entire city is about to be blown to kingdom come!"

"I'm glad we had one installed in the basement, come on!" Ashley's father said. The three of them pushed their way through the tarps and to the inner garage door. They were about to pass through when it opened and Ashley's mother appeared from the other side.

"Ash what in god's name-" The orange haired woman was interrupted when her husband grabbed her staunchly by the shoulders.

"Misty, listen! Go get Ashton from his room and bring him down to the bomb shelter! We're about to be nuked or something!" Ash shouted, his voice rattled with fear.

Misty nodded quickly and dashed down the hall. Ash lead his daughter down into the dank concrete basement, still not having noticed her friend that she had brought with her.

"I had a multi-frequency holo-TV installed in the shelter so we could see what the hell's going in the world outside, as well as enough food to sustain the whole family four five months." Ash shouted.

The sounds of gunfire and explosions filled the air outside, moaning hover drives of gunships and shrieks of fighters tore at Saffron City's peace. The ground around the house shuddered around them as a bomb struck somewhere nearby, and Ashley ran across the house's unfinished concrete basement. He threw the door open and climbed inside, Ashley followed, and then Ash saw Tanis as he tried to enter. He fell back away from the shelter's doorway, his face pale with shock and fear.

"M-m-m-Mewtwo?" Ash stuttered dumbfoundedly.

"So you did know my father." Tanis observed nonchalantly, jumping gingerly into the shelter.

"Uh dad, this is Tanis. He's Mewtwo's son." Ashley said, gesturing toward Tanis like he might shake hands with her father.

"A son?" Ash asked, obviously not wanting to shake hands. "How, Mewtwo was the only one of his kind!"

"He cloned himself to create me." Tanis said. "Let me assure you, I do not have the same unstable mental tendencies as he."

"I've been traveling with him for some time, but I'll save the stories for later." Ashley said.

Suddenly, Ashley's mother Misty climbed down into the shelter, carrying Ashton, her kid brother. Ashton was a spitting image of his father with his black spiky hair and ambitious eyes. He even wore the same League Hat that Ash had worn as a trainer many, many years ago. Misty suddenly let out a shriek and dropped the twelve year old Ashton, and was about ready to bolt out of the shelter when Ash grabbed her arm.

"Don't worry, he's not dangerous. Now get in so I can close the door!" Ash said gruffly.

Explosions rocked the basement walls as Ash pulled the six inch thick steel door closed. It clicked and then hissed as it sealed airtight and the sounds outside were totally drowned out. Ashton looked at Tanis with a moment of mixed curiosity and apprehension.

"Cool!" Ashton suddenly shouted, and ran over and poked Tanis in the stomach. "What kind of Pokemon is this?" The trainer in him shouted, he looked up at Ashley with glowing admiration and idolization in his eyes.

"Yes, tell us!" Misty suddenly growled, no longer frightened but angry at Ashley. Her fiery red hair was still tied up into its traditional side frond; it sprayed outward like a flame deceptively hiding the fact that the middle-aged woman was an expert with water type Pokemon.

"Technically, his species name is Mewtwo, but his name is Tanis." Ashley said.

"How do you do?" Tanis asked, trying to be polite as possible.

"This is so awesome!" Ashton said. "Does it have psychic powers?"

"In fact, I do." Tanis said, smiling down at the young child.

"And you won't be using them on us, will you?" Misty growled, as if her fear was being directly translated into rage.

"If that is what you wish, then it shall be so." Tanis said.

"Alright, be quiet everyone, I'm going to turn on the HTV!" Ash shouted from the other end of the shelter.

Ashley, Ashton, Misty and Tanis found their seats and Ash tinkered with the round machine in the center of the room. It flashed once and activated. The volume roared at them as a crowd cheered for a rodeo. The man riding the bull in the center of the ring was thrown off of his saddle and hit the dirt.

Ash grumbled and turned the volume way down and found a news channel. It switched over to an anchorwoman standing somewhere outside Saffron City's outskirts.

"Seem to have appeared out of nowhere, advanced forewarning satellites did not detect them. Their fighters and bombers are right now wreaking havoc in the city, several skyscrapers have already been destroyed and collapsed. Their mother ship is holding position over the commercial center of the city, steadily releasing more of their smaller ships. We've received word that several wings of military jets are on their way, this reporter hopes we can last out long enough!"

The camera broadcasting this signal could see the whole city and the entire ship from its distance, and the reporter turned and looked at the gigantic ship holding position over the city.

"Watch the ship's bottom," Tanis suddenly said, "That's where their main attack will come from. They will scour the city clean with red fire."

"Oh man, we're going to die aren't we!" Ashton said, fear and desperation appearing in his immature twelve year old eyes.

"Shh, be quiet and watch." Misty said to her son.

The reported turned back to the camera, her hand pressed against her ear. She listened for a moment as her short black hair ruffled in the wind.

"I've just received word, the jets are here!"

The camera tilted upward to the sky and suddenly hundreds of black blurs whizzed past. He followed them until they slowed in his perspective with distance, almost three hundred UN Military jet fighters. The sleek Raptors screamed into the clouds of planes and gunships milling about the city and missiles flew. Ashley watched transfixed as explosions peppered the air over the city, flaming wrecks plummeted to the Earth. The enemy fighters died in inglorious, burning red fireballs, but the gunships erupted with their cargo holds full of shells and produced shimmering fireworks displays. Missiles streaked up and struck the underside of the mother ship, but their effect was minimal against the dense armor plating. Against overwhelming numbers the UN forced lost, it was their only disadvantage as the enemy small ships seemed inferior. They only needed a larger force and some powerful warheads to win. They were slowly whittled away and destroyed by the swarm. Then one of the gunships moved off, away from the swarm and down directly towards the camera. The cameraman grunted in fear and desperation and the camera suddenly clattered to the ground. It looked up at the sky to see the gunship move over it, and its speakers picked up the booming of cannons and harsh and tortured screams as the anchorwoman and cameraman were shredded by its guns.

"This is looking bad." Ashley said as her father clicked off the screen.

Tanis and the others only nodded in silent terror and acknowledgement.

A/N: So now we have some character related events, we're now shifting away from Isaac's point of view and into Jenna's. This should help keep his actions in shadow while he performs nefarious deeds and advances the plot.

And yes, I know a lot of you will frown on my including the all-hated Ash and the psycho-bitch Misty, but let me promise you that their stupidity has decreased monumentally with old age. I have and will make them much more intelligent and enjoyable characters than they were before, so remember to keep those minds open and trust in my skills! It will turn out much better than you think!

So yes, read, review and all that jazz. I'll see you all again in two weeks!


	10. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 9

**Legacies  
**A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Hoorah! I've been returning to my better grades now! Things are improving vastly, and due to that I am now able to present you with the next chunk already! And it's an outstanding 18 pages, a new chunk length record for me! I hope you guys enjoy!

**Chapter XXVII – T7**

After what felt like an eternity sitting inside the bomb shelter in the basement of Ashley's father's house, Tanis finally lost control of an urge to ask a burning question. It had hit him as soon as he had seen Ashley's father, and suppressing it up till then had been a hard battle.

"Your name is Ash, correct?" Tanis asked, preparing to ask his real, more embarrassing question.

"Yeah." Ash said, holding his face in his hands.

"Well, I've been wondering something. Let me explain to you the discrepancy that has been bothering me. When I was growing to maturity inside my tube, my father Mewtwo left me recorded messages of tales from his life. He told me of the time he had met you when you were still a trainer, traveling the land as a teen much as Ashley is now. But he also told me that those events happened almost 90 years ago when he left those messages, which was ten years ago. You should be almost 130 years old, but you stand here before me a middle aged man. How is this so?"

A bomb exploded extremely close by, its sound barely made it through the thick shelter walls as Ash spoke. "I'm sure you're familiar with Purity Canyon, you must have heard your father tell you about how he had hidden the canyon underground to protect its healing springs from human intrusion. Well, when I was almost seventy years old and getting ready to write up my will, Misty convinced me that we should go visit Purity Canyon for old times sake. We went and found that the spring had returned, Mewtwo had returned it as a gift for humanity, with something a little more. We found a new spring hidden away in the very center of the Crater, underneath the small island. I drank from it, and it returned me to my twenties, and then Misty drank some of it as well. We were given a new lease on life, and we decided to put it to better use and have children."

Tanis nodded. It made sense to him now except for one thing. He didn't doubt his father's ability to create such a spring, but he couldn't comprehend why he hadn't used it himself in order to survive long enough to meet his own son in person. Perhaps it only worked on humans? He would have to check that theory later, as right now he felt he needed to do something about the problem hovering above their heads. It seemed that they hadn't fired their main cannon yet, and he wondered why.

"Everyone stay here, I need to go up and check something out." Tanis said abruptly.

Ashley stood up with a face that looked as if it were carved from steel. "We've been shot at by their men together, chased by their speeders together, and even been through a tornado together. There's nothing you can say to keep me here while you go and get yourself killed." Ashley's voice was just as steely as her expression.

Tanis could only chuckle and acquiesce. "As you wish. Just know that we could be vaporized should they fire while we're exposed.

"I'm very well aware." Ashley said staunchly.

"Now wait just a minute young lady!" Misty said, having to get in her say. "I've been worrying about you during your Pokemon Journey for the past six years, and I think it reasonable for you to respect my feelings about your safety for once!"

"You and Ash had just as much adventuring and danger during your Pokemon journeys! I bet you never thought of your mother when you quested with ash and faced down Team Rocket!" Ashley said calmly and venomously.

"That's enough!" Ash said sternly. "Though I am worried about your safety Ashley, I've been through much in my life, including a physical beating from Mewtwo himself, and I trust in your ability and judgment. You're a Ketchum, and you can do anything you want!"

Tanis cranked the bomb shelter door open and stepped into the house's basement. Ashley thanked her father profusely, reassured her mother, and followed Tanis out. Ashley and Tanis climbed up out of the basement and cautiously entered the garage. The got down onto their stomachs and climbed under the tarps. They poked their heads out and looked out the open garage doors and into the sky. The ship was hovering far overhead, casting its ominous shadow down onto them. Its bottom was still firmly closed, and fighters and gunships whizzed and shrieked overhead.

"What are they doing? Aren't they going to flatten the city?" Ashley wondered aloud.

Tanis put his paw over Ashley's mouth and she was suddenly silent. He crawled back under the tarps again and Ashley followed.

"What are you going to do?" Ashley now whispered.

"Does your father have any devices for amplifying vision?" Tanis asked.

Ashley scratched her head for a moment. "If you mean binoculars, I think he has a pair in here somewhere.

Ashley and Tanis began ruffling through the tool shelves and cabinets that lined the garage's walls. Tanis vaguely wondered why Ash had put all these tarps up in his garage. He knew it was a tidbit he would probably end up asking once he and Ashley had returned to the shelter. The plastic was slippery under his feet and it smelled of off-gassing.

"Found it!" Ashley said triumphantly.

"Shh!" Tanis said, wincing.

Ashley winced in reply and they both got back down on their stomachs and emerged from the other side of the tarp.

"Let me see through them." Tanis said, his seemingly loud psychic voice making no real sound.

Ashley removed the lens caps from the jet black binoculars, indicated which end to look through for Tanis, and then handed them to him. Tanis peered through them and up at the underbelly of the ship. It was thickly plated with even armor that had no visible cracks or seams. There were shallow, blackened craters in it where the UN jets had shot their missiles. The craters hadn't even penetrated an inch into the armor. He could not locate the seams where the bottom opened up for the super weapon, and he knew he didn't want it to open and show him.

There was a sudden explosion, one that rocked the ship and blared in both their ears. Tanis lowered the binoculars and looked more broadly into the sky. He saw an orange ball of flame at the rear end of the massive ship, and beyond it was another ship that had just appeared. Suddenly, all the fighters and gunships in the air dropped what they were doing and charged at this other ship. Tanis raised the binoculars again and looked out to see the new ship.

The new ship was uniformly olive drab and grey, and two letters were painted over it in true white; "UN" It was using the most advanced hover drives and propulsion systems that humans had designed up to this date, and appeared to be as big as the first ship that was still hovering over Saffron city. As Tanis watched, grey colored fighters poured off of the UN ship and began with the red colored fighters. Suddenly explosions dotted the sky again, and both sides began losing numbers relatively quickly. It seemed that the UN fighters exploded quickly after launching, but not before firing their own missiles and taking down equal numbers of the red fighters and gunships. The front of the UN carrier ship then began to open, and Tanis felt himself cross two of his three fingers.

From the opening in the front of the UN ship a great blue glow poured forth, not sickly and menacing like that which had came from the last red carrier, but almost heavenly and pure to Tanis' eyes. The energy collected until it was almost blindingly bright, and Tanis was about to look away until it fired.

Tanis found himself cursing openly and freely, and Ashley did as well when they both saw the red carrier above them suddenly fly North at a great speed, avoiding the beam. Sunlight now streamed down over them as the giant ship no longer blocked it. It stopped a few miles to the North, and now Tanis could see the whole thing in the binoculars. Slots were opening up all over its side, and missiles the size of human buses were unleashed. Each one could probably take out several square city blocks. The UN ship moved a lot slower than its opponent had, the missiles found their target easily and the proud olive carrier began spouting spoke and wobbling in the sky as it was pockmarked with orange explosions. Its front began to glow again, and gathered charge a lot quicker than it had before. Tanis held his breath as the beam fired, and didn't know whether to curse of shout in glee when the beam glanced the red ship's starboard side as it tried to move out of the way.

Hundreds of decks were visible where the beam had cut right through the red ship's side. Smoke poured out of it like it was a giant fog machine that was malfunctioning. It tottered in the air, spinning like a car that had lost a wheel. The UN ship still looked proud, almost gloating over its victory. A few more missiles struck it however, and it fell out of the sky. The shockwave took a little while to reach Tanis, the ground shook like during an Earthquake and he heard items falling off of Ash's shelving in the garage behind them. The UN ship had been sacrificed, but it had done well, it had crippled the red ship most effectively.

**Chapter XXVIII – R8**

"You should consider yourself lucky that I let you come along for this." Kalana whispered to Ruru.

The two Gerudo leaders were standing amongst a clot of Gorons, Zoras, and other Gerudos at the heart of their hastily organized attack force. The troops milled around them like a swarm of idle bees, preparing to lay siege to Hyrule Castle. The Hylians had all retreated inside, and there were no signs of the Iresians as of yet. The catapults were being rolled into position by muscle-bound Gorons, the Zoras held great bulging water skins around their waists. The bows and scimitars of the Gerudo people were at the ready, the assault would begin soon. Morale was already high among them, the Hylians were looking down at them from the tops of the walls like scared puppies as they grouped just outside of arrow range.

"The Zoras have been meditating to increase their magic power for the battle. Give the word and we will start casting." Iona said.

"The Catapults are being pulled into position and anchored, the rest of my people are ready for blood." Dregar said.

"The Gerudos are prepared as well. All we need is a way into the castle and the Hylians will mourn the loss of their necks." Kalana said, pushing Ruru away with her leg.

Abaim looked at his allies, smiling for the first time that any of them could remember. "It is good to know that despite Sirpala's treachery, all of the old alliances have held. I am honored that you all would fight for me and my people."

"Let me first say that you are quite welcomed my friend, but I don't think that these kinds of situations should have even erupted in the first place." Dregar said.

"Yes, these are sad times for Hyrule when leaders would throw away their promises for the sake of a hollow trend." Iona said, not realizing her own irony after having declared neutrality to Sirpala's face.

The massive wooden catapults squeaked into place, they were large enough for even a team of eight Gorons to have a hard time pulling. Their arms were several tree trunks tied together with the strongest enchanted rope. They were attached to wheels which were circular segments of tree trunks, most likely of the same type of trees that were used for the catapult arms. As they were slowly rolled into place, Gorons drove anchoring trunks into the ground with great stone hammers. The Hylians still only watched like roosting birds on the tops of the high outer walls.

"First we will fire four rounds of Gorons into their inner city to cause sufficient chaos. Then we will bring in the platforms and place them over the moat and cross to the wall. From there we use ladders to get over the wall. Gorons will smash the wooden drawbridge door and open it for use of the rest of us. At this point, we should expect the Iresians to attack and our contingencies from the forest will attack them to drive them out. Then all we will need to do is fight to the inner Castle itself, breach the inner walls, capture the keep and take Sirpala prisoner." Kalana said.

"We will make her regret bringing war on us!" Dregar said, roaring with laughter.

A Goron messenger ran up to them, panting heavily, and said "The catapults are ready and the ranks are formed. We are awaiting the order to begin."

"We will show Sirpala she cannot control all of Hyrule with mere words. Let the Siege begin." Abaim said, relishing every word.

The ranks of Gorons and Gerudos shifted and began moving. The Hylian soldiers on the walls watched in confusion at the absurd shuffling the Kalana and Iona had choreographed. The ranks were moving back and forth among themselves, successfully confusing the Hylians and preventing them from noticing that the moat-platforms were being brought in and the catapults were about to fire. Gorons climbed into the catapult cups and curled up. The catapults lobbed them skyward in artistic arcs, they sailed through the air like birds and plummeted into the Hylian city. Wooden crashes filled the air as the curled out, stone-like Gorons smashed through shops and houses, crushing and collapsing them like balsa-wood. The soldiers on top of the wall turned to see thirty Gorons emerging from the wreckage. These Goron Commandoes then went on a spree of destruction. With their powerful arms and gigantic hands, they simply tore buildings apart piece by piece. One particularly innovative Goron found the support beam to a four storied Inn and ripped it out with his bare hands. The whole thing crumpled into itself like a collapsing cake in an oven. One of them found a lit lantern and a fire was already blazing in the city by the time the soldiers had climbed down from the top of the wall.

The Gorons met them head on, beating them senseless and tossing them about like rag dolls. The spears that the Hylians carried were ineffective for the most part, only scratching the rock-like Goron skin. One of the Hylians finally found his sense and stabbed one of them in the face, the Goron could only scream and stumble around, trying to pull it out. The other Hylians picked up that cue and followed the strategy, effectively wiping out the interloping Gorons. Then there was a dull thwump outside the wall, and thirty more of the thick-muscled warriors crashed into the city. More buildings crumpled and collapsed, and thick black smoke plumed up into the sky as the closely huddled city went up in an increasingly large chain fire.

Outside the walls the platforms had been successfully placed over the moat and ladders were being brought to the front. With all the soldiers down inside the city fighting the Gorons, there was no-one there to see the hordes of Gerudos and Zoras about to scale the wall as ladders swung up to the top. Gorons carried an immense battering ram up to the drawbridge door and began pounding on it steadily. So far, things were going perfectly as planned, and there was no sight nor word of the Iresians. The sun was hanging hotly at the top of the sky as the clouds of thick smoke rose from the city.

Inside the city, the Hylian army had just finished dealing with a fourth group of Goron attackers when they were ambushed by hordes of Gerudos from every direction. Gerudos that had scaled the wall crept out of every alley, down from every rooftop, and out of every sewer. They had quietly snuck into the cross weaved grid of the city and then emerged to attack. The Hylians didn't even see them until a substantial portion of their men had been shot dead by arrows from the rooftops. They answered back with their bows and more Gerudos emerged and charged with scimitars. Pandemonium filled the city streets as fierce urban melee filled every building that was left standing. A tremendous crashing filled the air momentarily as the main drawbridge was crushed inward, and soon Gorons were pouring through it and into the melee as well. Zora mages quickly doused the dangerous fire with water spells and then turned their attention to the rapidly dwindling Hylian army. The ice bolts flew in torrential waves, cutting down any Hylians in their way. Gorons hunted down stragglers and crushed them to pulp under their mighty fists.

There was a lull in the battle as the few remaining Hylian soldiers rapidly retreated to the inner keep. The besieging forces secured what was left of the city relatively quickly, it had been emptied of civilians totally. Most likely all of their people were inside the keep and in the lower dungeons. A few sputtering fires were found and doused, and the siege forces gathered eagerly around the great stone doors of the inner keep. These would not break as easily.

The catapults were too large to be towed into the city to fire on the keep, it would need to be taken by manpower alone. A few moments of peace passed before Hylian archers suddenly appeared at the Castle's windows and began firing down into the gathered force. The Gerudos and Zoras were forced into buildings of the city, and the Gorons simply curled up to show their stony backs. The arrows stopped coming, even after the Gorons uncurled and stood. The Hylians knew they needn't waste arrows just for a suppressive fire on the Gorons that would be ineffectual anyway.

Inside one of Hyrule's largest Inn's, the leaders of the Siege gathered where a makeshift hospital had been setup. The wounded were being hauled in over the shoulders of the Gorons and treated by the healing magics of the Zoras. The siege leaders were busy congratulating themselves and wondering what had happened to the Iresians when a cry was suddenly heard.

Ruru and Kalana rushed up onto the Inn's roof where a watchman had made the cry. The Zora man was holding one hand to shade his eyes from the sun and was pointing into the Western horizon with his other. Ruru's gaze followed his finned hand and saw dots, many flying dots appearing in the distance. More Gerudos followed by Abaim emerged onto the roof, and they watched the dots continued to multiply as their appeared within vision range. Word was spread quickly, something was coming. As they watched, the dots grew into winged forms that resembled birds from their distance. Then it became clear that they were not birds at all, but giant shadowy dragons beating their way across the skies toward the castle. Kalana immediately grabbed the alarm horn off of her waist and blew on it as hard as she could.

The dragons filled the sky suddenly, terrifying all below. Their scales were vivid, crimson read and their fleshy wings stretched over fifteen feet, flapping laboriously in the still air. Hundreds of them circled over the castle, then thousands. Thousands and thousands more, until there was an immense cloud of them filling the sky. They began to descend, most of them down toward Hyrule Field outside the Castle walls. A scant few of them drifted straight down into the city, coming to a stop directly outside the occupied in.

Seen closer, Ruru saw they were ridden by men of the exact same appearance and build as the Iresians who had visited the Gerudo Great hall. They had not-quite Gerudo dark skin, burning red hair, and deep purple eyes. They wore simple crimson plate mail over their bodies, but no helms or gauntlets around their hands that carried grand lances. Three of them had landed in front of the Inn, only one of them was wearing a helm, and it was adorned with jewels, as well as ghastly spines that jutted toward the sky. One of the other men Ruru distinctly recognized as Anmor himself, and the other was unknown.

"Abaim! Dregar! Kalana! Iona! Come out!" The Iresian diplomat shouted from the back of his dragon.

"Stay here!" Kalana hissed at Ruru, and then leapt down off the roof.

Kalana fell five stories and landed on the cobblestone street with grace and precision only a Gerudo could muster. Dregar smashed down onto the stones next to her, his feet creating two miniature craters in the cobblestones. Iona floated down from the roof, using her magic to fly her like a feather. Abaim burst through the Inn's doors, a deep purple cloak trailing behind him and wrist blades at the ready.

"Well well well, the alliance is all here." Anmor said, a sickening evil grin on his face. "Did you think we were lying? Did you think we wouldn't come?" Anmor's tone was mocking and condescending, he talked to them as if they were drooling babies.

"Well guess what, we're all here, all thirty thousand of us!" Anmor cried, laughing madly. "We've bred these blood-dragons for this specific purpose, to fly the vast sea and to bring your doom to you! Your people don't stand a chance! Even if we did not have these majestic beasts at our sides, you would still all die horridly against our numbers alone. Each one of our dragons alone has the power to wipe out hundreds of your people!"

"Is there a point to this, are you going to kill us any time soon or are you just going to brag about it?" Abaim shouted, grinding his wrist blades together.

"Oh no, there's someone I'd like you to meet before you meet your demise." Anmor said, licking his lips like a predator anticipating its kill. "Someone that, out of all your people, only Sirpala has ever met face to face; the grand leader of the Empire of Iress, King Rirsh!" Anmor cried.

Anmor and the other nameless Iresian officer raised their arms toward the one in the crowned helm and bowed their heads to him. Rirsh's dragon stepped forward until it was only a few feet away from the four leaders. He regarded them from his seat upon the dragon's back.

"I've heard much about you four." Rirsh said, his voice a slithering horror that sounded like it had only barely forced its way out of his throat. There was a brief moment of silence as Rirsh waited a moment for some kind of response. The lines of rubies on his helm glinted in the sunlight.

"I've studied your people from afar for years," Rirsh said, his voice like that of a crypt depressurizing. "Are any of you familiar with the Ancient Hylian Dialect?"

No-one spoke yet again. "The name by which my servant has just introduced me is the name of the Ancient Hylian God of War, Rirscht the Annihilator. I saw it fit to find a name for myself that some of you might recognize, for I have been called many names by many people.

Rirsh suddenly reached up his hands in a quick smooth movement and removed his helmet. A gasp of sheer shock and terror came from Kalana and Ruru at the same time. What sight met their eyes was the head of their old friend Mewtwo, only with twisted horns and blood red with eyes that sparkled with hatred and destruction, along with a single golden emblem on his forehead in the shape of a circle with spines jutting up and down.

"But for now, you may call me Ares." The King finished, and grinned to reveal sharpened, bloodstained teeth.

**Chapter XXVIX – J2**

"There've been some pretty scary rumors flyin' around as of late," The Madran Innkeeper whispered, leaning over the counter at Jenna.

"Can they wait for a moment, I need eight rooms for a few nights." Jenna said. "My party is going to be staying here for four or five days.

Felix came up beside Jenna and set his bag of money on the counter. "How much?" He asked in a down-to-business tone.

"Well, our rate's sittin' at seventy coins a night right now, seein' as the prices have been dropping as more people's homes are being finished with repairs. Just don't count on the rates bein' the same tomorrow or any other day." The mustachioed Inkeeper said.

Felix untied the knot on the sack and poured out the glimmering gold alloyed coins. He counted out seventy of the tiny little discs and the Innkeeper swept them off of the counter and into a jar.

"Enjoy your stay folks, dinner'll be served in a couple hours."

Felix and the rest of the party shoved through the door and into the cozy confines of the Inn, but Jenna stayed behind to ask the Innkeeper about the rumors he'd heard. The keeper waited until the rest of the party had disappeared down the halls and into their rooms.

"People've been talkin' about a Venus adept who's been travelin' to the four corners of Weyward and buildin' some kinda army up in Northern Gondowan. Apparently some authority type folks from Central Angara approached him and confronted him about this whole crazy army-buildin' business, and they havn't been seen since." The Innkeeper said quietly.

Jenna nodded gravely. "I see. Do you know any specific details about this?"

"Nay, sorry lass. But I do believe the bartender down at the pub knows a bit more, he's the one who done told me the tale." The Innkeeper said, sitting back in his chair and tweaking his moustache.

"Right, if my friends ask, tell them I'm at the pub then." Jenna said and turned toward the door.

"Righto fair lass, if'n ya need anythin' more, feel free to ask!" The Innkeeper shouted after her as she walked out the door.

Jenna walked through the streets of the city of Madra, twilight dwindling on the horizon and few people lingering in the streets. Turning a few corners she saw the pub, which was obviously packed. Lights shone out the grimy glass windows, a piano chimed a merry tune from inside, and many loud, raucous voices streamed from the swinging doors. Jenna entered and no-one noticed, they were either busy playing cards or swilling beer. She walked up to the bar and regarded the bartender.

"What can I get you?" The bartender asked hoarsely, his long beard almost blending in with the scuzz on his apron.

"Tell me, what do you know about a wandering Venus adept in Gondowan these days?" Jenna asked, not feeling like drinking anything alcoholic.

"Why don't you have a beer and we'll talk?" The bartender asked, pulling a dirty glass mug off of the shelf behind him.

"No thank you, I just need to know all you know." Jenna said flatly.

The bartender looked disappointed, but decided not to bother her. He saw from her mage's staff that she was an adept of some kind, and he knew unfortunate things happened to people who bothered adepts, friendly or otherwise.

"Well, I've heard many travelers talking about it as of late. People who have came down from Gondowan and stayed in Madra for a few days. They say that some young Venus adept has been gathering native monsters and raiding villages. He's been intimidating people into serving him and slowly raising an army. Most recent folks been passing through have said that recently a band of soldiers came from Angara to disperse the force, but they've been killed or some other horrible fate. No-one who I've overheard has known for sure. But they've all sounded very shaken over the whole idea, if an army conquers Gondowan it could mean extremely high passage tariffs for the traders, or possibly a complete cessation of trade with all of Gondowan and Angara." The bartender said, stroking his beard compulsively. Jenna noted the odd obsessions with facial hair that businessmen here in Madra seemed to have.

"What else do you know?" Jenna asked, careful not to speak to loudly as to attract the attention from one of the barflies.

"Not much else except that a few people have caught word of a counter-force being assembled in Angara to combat the Gondowan army. There could be a full scale war within the next two or three months, they say."

"Nothing about the Venus adept who started it all?" Jenna asked on the verge of disappointment.

"Not a lot, except that he's extremely young and has spiky sandy hair. They say he also possesses a huge number of those little elemental spirits that adepts seem so fond of these days." The bartender replied thoughtfully.

"You mean Djinni?" Jenna asked eagerly.

"Yeah, that's what they're called. One guy said that the Venus adept's got over fifty of them."

"Thanks, that's all I need to know." Jenna said, and dropped a handful of coins onto the table.

Jenna stood to leave, only to find herself face to face with a drunken, stubble covered barfly. The beer reeked upon his breath as he got right into her face, studying her features with his woozy, drunken eyes.

"You're a mighty fine little lady to be found in a right dump like this." The drunk man said, suddenly putting his arm on Jenna's shoulder. "Why don't you come with me over to the Inn and we get a room?"

Jenna merely plucked the man's hand off of her shoulder and walked around him, saying "I'm sorry, I've already got a room for myself and I don't need any boozing slobs to keep me company."

"Why you little-" The man slurred the curse word he had intended to use and took a feeble swing at the back of Jenna's head. Jenna swiveled on her heels, caught the man's fist, beat him over the head with her staff twice, and threw him to the floor in one liquid motion.

The bar fell utterly silent as the rest of the drinkers and card players stared at Jenna. The man at the piano looked up at her over the wooden piano's lid. The bartender repressed a chuckle, knowing that was what happened when someone messed with an adept. Jenna scowled at the rest of the men in the bar and swiftly turned and left, the drunken man laid on the floor unconscious where she had left him.

Jenna found Sheba and Piers waiting for her in the dining hall back at the Inn. She promptly told them all of what she had heard, and they frowned with worry.

"It looks as if Isaac has paused from his quest for the Master Psynergies for now. What he plans to do in Gondowan is beyond me though, I seriously doubt he wants to just beat up a few traveling merchants." Piers said.

"Obviously something there has stopped him, something that promises as much power, if not more power than would be granted to him by mastering all forms of Psynergy. What kind of spell or artifact that could be, I haven't the faintest." Sheba said, rubbing her hands together as the cold started to seep into the Inn.

"We should probably consult Kraden on this, he should know something about such a powerful force hidden away in Gondowan." Jenna said wisely.

"No, Kraden is already fast asleep. The strain of these travels have been taking their toll on his ancient body, I'm surprised his arthritis hasn't caused him to keel over by now. He is still dwarfed in years compared to us Lemurians, but for a human he is extremely old." Piers said.

"Very well, we will wait until tomorrow morning to ask him. For now I believe it would be a good idea for us to rest as well. It is still a long trip by wagon to get to Osenia Cliffs, and beyond that hundreds more miles to Air's Rock." Jenna said.

"Yes, I can feel sleep coming on now anyway, best for us to be more awake in the morning." Sheba agreed.

The three of them stood from the table and made their way to their own separate rooms. Jenna's room smelled distinctly of parsley, an odd smell to be mixed with the native musty odor and the smell of burning oak logs. It was as if someone had been cooking over a fire in this room not an hour ago. She saw no trace of it, and there was certainly no fireplace in the room, so she shrugged it off as smells drifting in from the Inn's kitchen. She settled down into the bed and fell into a nightmare torn sleep.

**Chapter XXX – A8**

"I wonder, why didn't they fire their main gun down into the city while they had the chance?" Ashley mumbled.

She and Tanis were sitting obscured under the tarp in her father's garage, looking up at the smoking, wounded red hulk hanging in the air north of the city. The beam hat cut a cross-section out of its side, and thin lines of decks were visible where thick black smoke was not spewing out. It was now drooping at a lopsided angle in the sky, like a marionette with a few of its support strings cut. All of its smaller ships had retreated back to it and landed on its top flight deck or inside fighter bays. Saffron city was now eerily silent, smoke rose in columns from the commercial skyline at several places where once majestic skyscrapers had collapsed. The blackened hull of the UN ship had landed not too far from the city limits, it too was disgorging a thick jet black tower of sickly smoke as fires ravaged its crushed innards.

"I cannot guess, but something tells me we will find out one way or another." Tanis said calmly, still studying the ship through Ashley's father's binoculars.

"Wait, hold on a second." Tanis said, his voice sounding alarmed. "Look at that." He said, suddenly pointing far north off into the horizon. He handed Ashley the binoculars.

Ashley peered through the lenses following Tanis' direction. At first she could only see dots on the horizon, and a tight wire of anticipation tightened around her gut. They could be enemy or UN ships for all she could tell at this distance. She steadily watched them grow and realized that they were neither.

"Oh my god." Ashley whispered. "This is impossible."

Ashley saw in the distance, another carrier ship of equal size and proportion, only this one wais painted sky blue with a giant "A" splayed over it, the official sign of Team Aqua. Ashley had no clue that they were such a powerful syndicate to have constructed a ship of this magnitude. She handed the binoculars back to Tanis.

"Apparently, someone else wants a piece of the action as well." Tanis observed in a manner that made him sound less than intelligent.

Seeing the Team Aqua ship appearing over the horizon suddenly made something click in Ashley's head. She realized that red was the official color of the Team Magma syndicate, the exact same color as the ships that had attacked the city. But as soon as she came across this thought she tossed it aside, remembering the emblems that were painted on these red ships. Team Magma vehicles would have the standard "M" for Magma on their sides, these ships had bloody swords in a three barred X-like cross. She could only guess as to who controlled these ships.

The red ship slowly began to turn, it wobbled and weaved, its remaining engines laboriously taking the strain. It turned to face the oncoming Aqua ship, portholes opened in its sides to fire more of its deadly missiles the size of Greyhound buses. The Aqua ship, still a good distance away, decided to not let this stand. A flash of light stung Ashley's eyes and she saw a beam of sky blue energy sizzle past the red ship, missing it by what looked like inches. The red ship's missiles roared to life and screamed through the air at the Aqua ship. The Aqua ship answered by launching smaller crafts, manned fighters, which then went kamikaze right into the oncoming projectiles. Ashley gasped in mild horror and shock at what the Aqua members were willing to do for their team.

The Aqua ship advanced rapidly, it came up alongside the red ship with stunning speed. The red ship protested with the rest of its complement of missiles, but the Aqua fighters were more than eager to sacrifice themselves for their team's cause. The Aqua ship lined itself up alongside the red ship and a clang reverberated through the air. Giant arms had reached out of the Aqua ship and clamped down onto the red ship in a vice grip. The red ship's thrusters flared as it tried to pull away, but it had lost most of its thrusting power when the UN ship had blown off its side. The Aqua ship pulled them together until their sides were touching, both hovering in the air in a deadly embrace.

Suddenly Tanis crawled out from underneath the tarps and stood.

"Ashley, something insidious is happening here. I'm going to stop it." Tanis said resolutely.

"What do you think is going on?" Ashley shouted, wondering if Tanis had a death wish. "And whatever you're going to do, I'm going with you!"

Tanis sighed and shook his head. "The people in the blue ship, I sense power lust and malevolence from them. Either they are going to kill those inside that crimson carrier, or the two of them are going to negotiate an alliance. The only acceptable outcome is if both of them were destroyed. I tend to help them along in destroying one another. I hope you know, it will be extremely dangerous. I'm not going to keep you from coming with me, but you should know that we both might be killed."

"Don't you think it would be wise to wait and watch?" Ashley asked.

"No, because whoever wins will destroy the city. I want to stop both of them before they can." Tanis said, nobility ringing in his voice.

Ashley nodded. "All right, I'm coming with you."

"There's one thing I need to do before we go," Tanis said calmly, sounding as if he were psyching himself up.

Tanis suddenly grabbed his mechanical arm with his real arm. Ashley watched in terror and fascination as Tanis strained, his face darkening with concentration and tears of pain welling in his eyes. The lights on his mechanical arm suddenly flickered and went out, it twitched once and fell still. Tanis suddenly let out a blood curdling scream of pain as the mechanical arm suddenly separated from his body entirely. Blood poured from his open shoulder, torn ligaments and nerves hung out limply. Tanis' face was streaked with tears of sheer agony, he was grinding his small teeth madly. His body began to glow as he utilized a large amount of his powers, and the blood stopped flowing. Out of nowhere, the hanging tendons and ligaments shuddered into motion. A spear of bone jutted out of the shoulder joint and muscles extended out and wrapped around it. The tendons disappeared into the newly formed tissue. Another bone burst outward from the newly formed elbow suddenly, and more muscles and ligaments climbed over it. Skin began crawling down over the bicep muscles, and small finger bones appeared at the hand joints. Tanis moaned from the pain all the way through until his new organic arm had completely formed.

"That was amazing." Ashley whispered.

"That was my father's recover ability taken to its highest form, beyond any limits he had set for it previously." Tanis panted, letting the stress slowly pump through his system to dissipate. "I finally had enough power to do it."

"Are you all right? You look as if you could pass out!" Ashley urged.

"No, it is only the shock from the pain and stress in my system, it will pass soon."

An explosion rocked the sky and both of them suddenly looked up. The rear end of the red ship had detonated in a gigantic fireball. It lost all lift to its hover drives and fell, cumbersome in the giant gripping hands of the Aqua ship. Gunships and fighters that had been resting on top of the red ship now skittered and fell off, crashing and exploding on the plains north of Saffron. The Aqua ship now tottered in the air, its engines were under great strain supporting its own weight and that of the red ship, barely keeping the both of them aloft.

"It looks like they'll both destroy themselves anyway; they can't float like that for very long." Ashley said, still staring up at the two ships in death's embrace.

"No, even if the ships crash, many of both sides will still survive."

Ashley looked down at Tanis, whose eyes were closed. A serene look covered his face, his whole head seemed to be glowing slightly. "I can see shades of what will be…"

"Your power is that strong already?" Ashley asked, now thoroughly amazed at Tanis' abilities.

"Those aboard the blue ships, Team Aqua as you name them, they are seeking great power. This power lies inside the red ship, where there many who are like me." Tanis said calmly.

"You mean others of your species?" Ashley asked, almost gasping.

"Yes, they serve Ares. The Aqua ones wish to capture their power. We must prevent it." Tanis said, opening his eyes suddenly. "We have little time, grab my arm."

Ashley did as told and felt her weight being lifted by a familiar invisible force. Tanis flew them through the air toward the two ships, gaining incredible velocity with every passing moment. The two intertwined ships multiplied in size, perspective bloating them as Ashley and Tanis rocketed up toward them. Tanis found a gash in the red ship's hull and flew them inside.

What awaited inside was absolute chaos, the floor was now no longer where it should be. Since both ships were hanging in the air on their sides, Ashley and Tanis walked on the walls of the passageway, the floor and ceiling to their right and left. It was a disorienting and almost sickening experience for Ashley to walk like that, and the both of them had to hunch, as the passageway had not been built as wide as it had been built tall. They only had a few scant feet of space. The passageway itself was in total disarray. Bullet holes scarred the red metal walls in every direction. It seemed ever surface was covered with them like some deadly festering pox. Dead bodies lay on the floor, men and women wearing blue uniforms with white A's on them. Among them were the all too familiar black-clad, ninja-like men. There were no traces of the blood acolytes that were replicas of Ares.

Tanis and Ashley raced through the cramped, littered halls aimlessly, looking for any signs of life. Ashley made sure to grab an assault rifle up off of the carnage strewn floor as they ran. Turning a corner, Ashley heard gunfire and Tanis suddenly turned toward it and ran for it like mad. The turned another corner to see flashes of gunfire blinking wildly from inside a doorway. Tanis crept up to that doorway and looked around the corner, Ashley did the same.

The room that they saw was without a doubt the bridge of the red ship. A great command deck was elevated in the center of the room, surrounded on all sides by several lower platforms that housed blinking holographic displays. Team Aqua members were crouching in and under these smaller platforms, firing their assault weapons up at the main platform. The black-clad men were firing back down at them, and bodies fell everywhere. Ashley held back a gasp, seeing one of the insidious Blood Acolytes standing in the center of the top platform among the black-clad men. It's horns were curved, almost helix shaped spines instead of Tanis' traditional stubby ones. It was wearing the same traditional crimson robes, only its head uncovered. It was hissing orders at the black-clad men, as well as taking time to form energy swords and toss them down into the mobs of Team Aqua members.

"Wait." Tanis whispered into Ashley's mind. Nobody else heard him except the Blood Acolyte, whose head suddenly jerked around and looked straight at them. No doubt it had easily picked up Tanis' psychic words.

A bullet popped through the Blood Acolyte's shoulder in the moment that it was looking at Ashley and Tanis, and it turned its attention back to the more pressing battle at hand. It hurled an energy sword through the man who had shot him and crouched down low to avoid more projectiles. His strategy clearly suggested that he was trying to conserve his own psychic energy as much as possible by not forming a shield. The battle raged on, neither side effectively damaging the other too much.

Tanis suddenly twisted around and looked down the corridor behind them. He grabbed Ashley's wrist and pulled her with him down the hall and around a different corner. Ashley could not hear anything over the ear-splitting gun fire, but she knew that someone had come through the hall where they had been to join the firefight. A few seconds pass and Tanis crept back around the corner and back down the hall. Ashley followed and they both looked into the bridge again.

Inside, a new gaggle of Aqua members had appeared and were setting up an odd machine near the doorway where Ashley and Tanis were watching. They bolted the machine to the floor, it looked like a four foot orb of steel with a single crease. They pressed a button on the control panel on the device's back and the crease opened, revealing a small dish-like structure. One of the members attending the machine whistled harshly, and another member in the midst of the crossfire suddenly lobbed some small object onto the command platform. A concussive thud slammed through the room and the black-clad men were tossed off of the platform like rag dolls, many of them ripped open and bleeding everywhere. The explosion tossed the Blood Acolyte down from the platform as well, he was unharmed with his blood red shield up.

The machine attendant tapped a series of buttons and the device emitted an electronic hum. The dish structure turned to face the Blood Acolyte and emitted a beam of colorless, grey energy at him. The demonic looking creature attempted to jump to one side, but the beam caught him and paralyzed him. The grey energy formed an imprisoning orb around him and he jerked taut like he was being crucified.

"We did it! The boss is going to pay us an assload of cash!" The member at the machine whooped.

"No he won't!" Tanis suddenly shouted, stepping out from around the corner.

The men gawked, and Tanis suddenly ran forward and efficiently ended their lives with energy blades. Gunfire barked from all around the bridge, the Aqua members that were dug into the platforms all opened up on Tanis with their assault rifles. An orange bubble of energy formed around Tanis and the bullets sparked and pinged off harmlessly. Tanis clutched his own head, concentrated, and let fly a series of psychic attacks that roasted the brains of every Aqua member in the room. The guns fell silent as their owners simply fell to the floor limply.

Tanis walked past the imprisonment machine and right up to the Blood Acolyte. The red skinned copy of him sneered and spat, the glob of stuff simply sizzled and evaporated inside the containment sphere. Tanis formed a two-handed energy sword and stabbed it through the sphere and into the Blood Acolyte's head. It jerked frantically and fell limp inside the sphere, and a suddenly rumble shuddered through the walls of the red ship around them. Sets of yellow and orange lights suddenly strobed from all of the bridge's control panels. The ship shuddered violently, the floor shifted under Ashley and she nearly fell over.

"We've got serious problems." Tanis said, striding over to Ashley and helping her up. "The first problem is a combination of two. The ship we're on is about to fall out of the Aqua ship's grip, it will crush and explode when it hits the ground. The second part of the problem is that when the Acolyte died, a chip in his head sent a signal to override this ship's reactor safeties. Should the ship explode, a thermonuclear detonation will evaporate all of Saffron City. The second major problem is that Ares is sending reinforcements here, and Team Aqua is as well. Team Magma has also decided that they want a piece of the pie as well. Another fleet of human military ships will be arriving soon, the airspace of this city is about to be turned into a massive war zone. And if we don't find a way to lock down this ship's reactors before it plummets, the city is doomed."

Ashley only shook her head and sighed. "Go figure, that's life." She said in a surrendering tone.

A/N: Now you've got to admit that this chunk kicked ass. I had a blast writing it, and I hope you've had a blast reading it. Reviews have gone a long way to help me keep up the good work, so keep them coming!


	11. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 10

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Here's another whopping 18 pager for you guys! We're getting really close to finishing this part of the story now, I expect only one or two more chunks left before moving on to part two. This has been twice as much fun to write as Crossing of the Paths, even though half as many people have been reviewing. Read and enjoy!

**Chapter XXXI – T8**

"We need to get to this ship's reactor rooms; there should be a way to lock down the core there." Tanis said, grasping Ashley's arm and dashing out of the now dead bridge.

"I hate to be blunt, but unless you've been taking classes on nuclear physics while I'm not looking, I highly doubt that you know how to shut down a core manually. I certainly know I don't." Ashley said matter-of-factly.

"It's either try or die at this point, and I've always thought that it would be better to die trying than to give up and let it come." Tanis said.

The two of them dashed down more pockmarked halls, stepping over bodies and through blasted and burning doors. The ship lurched violently again, knocking the both of them off of their feet. Tanis stumbled to his feet, the floor was now angled even more. Soon the ceiling would be the floor and they would be plummeting to Earth. He ran down a series of tight hallways and turns, about ready to give up the search when he came into a larger room dominated by a white glowing sphere of light shimmering inside a containment field hovering in the center of the room. Control panels were encircling the column of steel that rose up toward it. Tanis ran over to these controls and began examining them. There were no labels on any of them, the hologram display shimmered mockingly in front of them as they regarded it sideways, standing on the wall.

"All right," Ashley said impatiently, "Time for you to work your magic. We've had dumb luck before and we need it now more than ever."

"Trust me, you know I've read machines before." Tanis retorted, grabbing the base of the holographic projector firmly.

Tanis reached down to the control computer banks of the fusion core's lockdown systems with his mind. He interpreted the electrical impulses that were flowing through it into thoughts he could read. He then reverse translated his own thoughts into signals that would command the machine to re-engage the safeties of the reactor. Suddenly, the ship shifted dramatically and Tanis fell off his feet. The center of the ship's gravity had rotated again and he and Ashley fell from the wall and to the ceiling. Tanis could feel himself starting to get nauseous from this disorienting ride. The ship was now hanging upside-down, no doubt about to fall out of the Aqua ship's grip and crash into the Earth below. He craned his neck up to see the nuclear core shutting down, its glow diminishing as steel shields slid down around it.

"Ok, let's get off of this junk heap before it falls!" Ashley said eagerly, "Teleport us back to the bunker!

"No, we need to do something more." Tanis said, images flooding into his head seemingly from nowhere. "We need to board the Aqua ship, apparently a lesser Blood Acolyte boarded it not seconds ago, leading an attack force. We need to prevent him from being captured now as well."

The ship shuddered and shook around them, threatening to fall at any second.

"Let's get moving then!" Ashley shouted, and the two of them dashed down the upside-down halls of the ship toward where the Aqua ship and the red ship were precariously joined.

All of the debris in the hallways had fell onto the ceiling, the bodies lied in unnatural and impossible positions, positions to painful to be in for any living person. The spent shell casings still littered the ceiling/floor which they walked on, and the blood of the fallen now streaked up/down the walls. To Tanis it was like being inside a freeze-framed kaleidoscope of death. They zigzagged up and down hallways, passed through rooms, and finally found the telltale rifts in the hole with hallways beyond. Though the décor of blood and death had not changed, the main color of the hallways beyond was different, sky blue instead of blood red. Tanis simply lifted the both of them up and through the blue boarding tunnel, which was now twisted around and bent out of shape by the force of the red ship pulling it down. When they arrived inside the Aqua ship, Tanis was relieved to find an actual floor under his feet, a surface that was actually intended to be walked upon.

Tanis and Ashley crept around the blue steel hallways for a short while until they heard gunshots cracking through the air once more. They followed the sound until they turned a corner and saw the backs of the Blood Acolyte and his men. They had dug into this narrow hallway using the piled bodies of the dead as cover from the Aqua members' fire. The black-clad men popped their heads up to fire and ducked down when return shots filled the air. The Blood Acolyte was kneeling a few feet further behind them, only watching with grim pleasure at all the death.

The blue ship suddenly rocked under their feet and momentum caused Tanis to feel like he were being pressed into the floor. The feeling quickly faded, and a rumbling crash emanated up through the steel floor. No doubt the red ship had broken free of the Aqua ship's grasp, Tanis deduced that the feeling he had experienced was when the Aqua ship's engines overcompensated for weight that was no longer there, and the ship and flown up into the air at a good speed. Thee sound of the red ship crashing was not intense either, only the crunching sound and minute explosions, not the tremendous deafening roar of a thermonuclear blast.

Taking an opportunity of temporary disruption in the battle, Tanis crept up behind the Acolyte, and with ninja-like precision, sliced the Acolyte's head-back connection with one quick energy sword blow. The Acolyte screamed, its powers were no totally gone. Tanis quickly finished it off with several more energy sword blows, the Acolyte dissolved into chunks on the floor. The black-clad men turned their assault rifles on Tanis, who raised his shield to block the bullets. Hundreds of them chipped away at his shield, but his energy seemed to be overflowing and he charged at them and began dicing them up with his glowing blades.

"Tanis, watch out!" Ashley screamed from around the back corner of the hall.

Tanis turned to look at Ashley with confusion, not seeing the glowing orange rocket flying toward him from the Aqua members' position. It exploded against his shield without penetrating it, but threw Tanis violently backward as if the hand of God and smacked him. He bounced inside his shield, bouncing against the walls as if inside a giant pinball machine. He caught himself quickly, righted, and held his arms out in front of him. An orb of orange energy formed, lightning crackling around it. He tossed it past the wall of dead and into the cluster of Aqua members. It erupted into a great fireball and roasted all who lived in that little corner of the hallway.

"All right, can we leave now?" Ashley said, hysteria clear in her voice.

"Not yet…" Tanis said, scrunching his face up in concentration.

"What, is there another one of those things in need of rescue?" Ashley shouted again, anger spraying from her in a toxic shower.

"The greatest air war mankind is yet to see is about to erupt here above Saffron City. Three of the four factions involved thirst for power so strongly I can practically taste it. If left alone, this battle could spell the end of not only Saffron City, but the rest of this world. The military must win! If any of the others, Aqua, Magma or Ares emerge victorious, they would seize control of all others and rise to dominate all the world. We must find some way of destroying the enemy fleets!"

"But my mother and father are down there! If the reactors on any of these ships go off, it could mean their deaths despite the fact that they're in the bunker!" Ashley said, her emotions close to spilling into tears.

"I know what the consequences are, but unless we do something the whole world could be destroyed!" Tanis shouted back, trying desperately to get Ashley to see the bigger picture.

"Well then what do you suggest? I doubt all the psychic powers in the world could stop all these ships!" Ashley yelled.

"That's where you're wrong." Tanis said.

Just then another horde of Aqua members came scurrying around the corner in front of them. They leveled their guns at Tanis, but Tanis whipped his arm up and pointed it at them. His eyes glowed bright orange and a glowing orange aura surrounded him. Suddenly the Aqua members lowered their guns and simply stared forward, their faces blank of all expression. Tanis stood out from the cover afforded by the pile of bodies and strode right up to them. They stared blankly until Tanis waved them off back down the corridor from whence they had came. They obediently trudged off down the corridor like a line of ants. Tanis looked back at Ashley and smiled.

"Just a little psychic energy can in fact go quite a long way."

Ashley stood slowly and gawked at Tanis. "Well…I…I guess you're right. What do we do now?"

"We storm the bridge of this vessel and take control of it for ourselves. Then, when the reinforcement Aqua ships arrive we fall into formation with them and fight against Ares' ships and Magma's ships. During the decisive point of the battle, we turn on the other Aqua ships, destroying them unexpectedly and allowing the military ships to win."

"And what if Magma or Ares forces outnumber our ships badly? What if we're the ones being eliminated during that decisive point?" Ashley asked exasperatedly.

"We fly to the winning side's flagship and take control of it." Tanis said simply.

"That won't be so easy should it be an Ares ship we need to take, their Blood Acolytes are equally as powerful as you. Controlling an entire crew of them would be impossible." Ashley said.

"That's where we're taking a gamble. Hopefully, luck will be on our side for this one." Tanis said.

"Ah luck, it's never on our side. That's the way life works."

"Let's see if we can change that." Tanis winked as he said this, another squad of Aqua troops had just appeared behind them and he had just grabbed control of their minds as well. Tanis smiled and nodded.

**Chapter XXXII – R9**

"Quickly!" Kalana's voice suddenly said inside Ruru's mind, "You must escape! They do not know you are here! Go to Kokiri Forest with all speed and tell our people there what has happened! Lie low with them and hide from the Iresians! Their power is too great now, you will have to find some way to escape Hyrule and gather troops for a resistance movement. Go now!"

Ruru hesitated, looking down at her older sister one last time. She then dutifully scuttled across the Inn's shingled roof to the back of the building and climbed down. What was left of Hyrule Castle City was eerily empty, all of the Gorons, Zoras and Gerudos had all gathered around where Ares had landed. She gave thanks for the clear escape as she made her way through the deserted remains of the city and toward the walls. Running past the charred and collapsed buildings was causing a deep foreboding in the pit of Ruru's stomach however, and she couldn't help but wonder what if the Iresians wrought this same destruction upon the rest of Hyrule? Her mind was suddenly riddled with images of the Gerudo plains and palace burning in Iresian dragonfire.

Ruru climbed the abandoned outer wall and looked out into Hyrule Field. The Iresian Army, all thirty thousand of them, were sitting in wait on the calm grasses alongside their dragon mounts. Their swords and armor gleamed in the unforgiving sun and their dragons flicked their horned tails restlessly. The forest was much further southeast, following Zora's River as the waters flowed North up from Zora's domain to fill the moat around Hyrule Castle City's walls.

In an instant Ruru knew that the river was the key to getting to the forest unseen. Unless their troops had not seen the Iresians arrive, they would still be lying in wait among the dense foliage of the forest. The trick for her would be swimming against the river's flow without making a sound and drawing attention.

While she was pondering this, Ruru heard a shout from the city behind her, the clashing sound of steel on steel, and the thunderous sound of a Goron battle roar. She ducked down into a shadowed crevice in the wall and saw Ares and Anmor fly up and out of the city and over the wall on their dragons. She heard the other Iresian dragons roar and growl on the other side of the wall as their riders jumped on.

Suddenly the air was filled with a deafening rumble, Ruru heard crashes back inside the city. She looked down into the streets to see the Gorons were storming toward the open gate and out into the fray. Zoras and Gerudos intermingled with them as they charged blindly to certain doom.

"No you fools! You'll die!" Ruru shouted down at the stampede, but her voice was lost among the pounding Goron feet.

Ruru could only watch in horror as the Gorons flooded out of the city and into the awaiting mob. Dragons jumped into the air and dove at them from every direction. Spells from the Zora Mages and arrows from Gerudo archers knocked droves of the beasts out of the sky, and the Gorons began to effectively mash them into pulp, but their numbers were incredibly overwhelming. Ruru was fascinated by the battle, she crouched on the castle wall watching without realizing it.

One particularly heroic Goron was fighting particularly well. He grabbed a dragon by its tail and swung it in circles, bashing and crushing others all around him. He threw the beast into a group that were fast approaching him, bowling them over. He turned quickly and rammed his fist into the face of another dragon, crushing its skull in; a feat that only a Goron's great strength was capable of. He grabbed its rider's head and crushed it like a melon, grabbed the spear out of his hands, and then jabbed it through the dragon's neck. A flying spear appeared seemingly out of nowhere and then skewered his face, causing Ruru to cringe in horror. The unfortunate Goron toppled over and a swarm of dragons descended to feast upon him.

Ruru then caught sight of Dregar, drenched in dragon blood and ripping through dragons left and right. He had just snapped one dragon's neck with his bare hands, he kicked one that was approaching him from behind, throwing off its rider who then fell over a spear. Dregar plucked the spear out of him, grabbed another off of the ground, and hurled them both into the air at a pair of dragons who were descending on a pack of Zora Mages. He had propelled them through the air with such force as to impale both beasts completely from fifty feet away. Then, Ares appeared behind him and Ruru suppressed her urge to shout a warning. Ares swung a giant glowing axe and embedded its blade in Dregar's rock-skin just as if it were regular flesh. Dregar howled in agony and fell. Ares laughed an echoing bloodthirsty laugh that Ruru could hear inside her head. He finished Dregar off by lopping off his head.

The Gorons nearby who had saw this happen suddenly let out howls of rage and sorrow at the loss of their beloved leader. They got a running start and rolled up, blasting through dragons to get at Ares. Ares simply laughed his chilling laugh and swung his axe, slicing right through them like butter. The ill-fated Gorons fell to the ground in seared chunks of gore.

Ruru felt a hand on her should and jumped around, swinging her fist.

"Whoa, whoa, easy there! I'm a friend!" The man said.

Ruru took a moment to really observe the man and saw he was a Zora mage with great bulging water skins wrapped around his waist and the crest of the Zora Royal Family on his forehead.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"My name is Onta Hi'tero, and I'm here to help you escape."

Ruru rubbed her eyes for a second and then looked back out over the battle. Friendly forces were dwindling dangerously. She decided not to question this man who called himself a member of the Hi'tero family, the situations were far too drastic.

"How?"

"The Zora's river, we can swim up it unnoticed during the chaos of the battle. But we need to act quickly, the battle won't last much longer!" Onta said.

Onta grabbed Ruru's arm and jumped off the wall, taking her with him. They landed with a belly flop in the City wall's moat, burning pain splashed around Ruru's front side. She felt Onta grab her ankle and pull her down the moat at a tremendous speed. His natural Zora swimming abilities coupled with the relatively flow slow of the water through the moat helped them gain ground quickly. Soon they had emerged from the moat and into the river itself, swimming southeast at a brisk pace past the last few remnants of fighting.

As Ruru and Onta eventually passed out of view of the dragons, Ruru felt a strange tingling in her side. It grew into a steady radiating warmth that seemed to originate from the right pouch that was attached to her pants where she was keeping the Elemental Crystals. A tingling then appeared in her right hand from where the Triforce had burrowed into her flesh. It too began warming, and she raised her hand out of the water to look at it. It was glowing a faint ghostly blue as it sat in the back of her hand. She suddenly felt a jolt from her side and a jolt from her hand. Small bolts of energy from both leapt up her body and into her head. Her vision was fuzzy for a moment and a ringing echoed in her ears. Then suddenly she saw an image in her mind, a moving image that displayed the battle scene back at the front walls of Hyrule Castle City.

Se saw all of the Gorons were dead now, and the surviving Zora who had run out of magic were being rounded up and shackled. Most of the Gerudos who had fought were dead now as well, a few survivors were being herded and chained. She saw Abaim, Iona and Kalana bound in these chains, standing before Ares at lancepoint. They all glared up at Ares with venom in their eyes, especially Abaim. Ares only laughed, the spine tingling sound carried with the images into Ruru's mind.

"So, you've all played your little games, now its time for you to take your medicine." Ares laughed. "You were too headstrong to see fate dangling right in front of your noses, and now it has caused you immeasurable losses to your people! I think the price is fitting!"

Ares laughed again, his armor clinking on him like it was alive. Abaim suddenly exploded in rage, his voice ripping at the air. "You monster! Your black heart beats like that of the damned re-deads of the Shadow Temple!"

"Now now, is that any way to talk to your new lord and master?" Ares said, relishing the words.

"I will never serve you, even if it means death!" Abaim roared.

"As you wish then." Ares said, sighing heavily.

A glowing sword appeared in Ares' hands and he stabbed it directly into Abaim's skull. Instead of blood flowing out like that of a normal wound however, it just created a blackened, cauterized hole in his head from which only smoke flowed. Abaim fell backwards slackly, his eyes rolling back in his head. Ares only sighed.

"Though the prospect of having him as a servant would have proven rich with entertaining irony, I still relished his death." Ares said, turning to face Iona and Kalana. "I did use him as my wedge to start the war in Hyrule, so a merciful and quick end was due in gratitude. You two will suffice for my ironic entertainment."

"If you expect me to submit, then you're sorely mistaken." Kalana said proudly, looking down her nose at the face of her own death.

"I don't expect you to submit of your own will. Nor do I intend to kill you either. There are ways that the body can be used to influence the mind however, and I think you'll find yourself submitting after a few days with my best torture artists."

Suddenly Iona burst out into tears. She was yet the youngest monarch that the Zoras had appointed, and now her weakness was apparent. "Please, I'll do anything! Just don't put me through that kind of pain!" She begged.

"Well now, I guess I needn't work on you after all!" Ares chuckled.

"You're pathetic." Kalana suddenly said to Iona, and spat on her. Iona only cried more. "Go ahead fiend, do your worst. I have fasted for days on the fringes of the remnant deserts! I know physical pain well and you cannot break my will with it!" Kalana then said to Ares, and prepared to spit at him as well.

Before she could conjure the insult though, Ares raised his hand and pointed it at her. He glowed an ill crimson and Kalana suddenly jerked rigid.

"Well then, I'll just have to use another method. Now bow to me!" Ares commanded, his eyes glowing red.

"Never!" Kalana's mouth spoke, but the force Ares had conjured suddenly forced her to her knees. Her body was betraying her will.

"Now, kiss my hand!" Ares ordered, removing his gauntlet and holding out a knobby, three fingered hand.

Kalana shouted incoherently in defiance, but her body lowered her head down to his hand and she pressed her lips against it. But then, she also managed to slip out of his control for a moment and bit into his flesh. Blood flowed out freely and Ares tried to jerk back, but her teeth had sunk in and he was caught. He suddenly glowed an even brighter red.

"Enough!" He bellowed, and Kalana was suddenly thrown backwards like a rag doll, the chains dragging the crying Iona and dead Abaim along with her.

"I tire of your resistances! There will be no more beating around the bush!" Ares growled, and waved his hand at Kalana.

Kalana jerked into spasms and fell limp on the ground, as did Iona. The both of them then suddenly stood, moving in a jerking, clumsy fashion. Their eyes were suddenly blank, the pupils had disappeared entirely. They stood rigid before Ares, who smiled and revealed his rotten teeth again.

"Whom do you serve?" Ares asked.

"Lord Ares." The two chanted in a horrifying monotone.

"Excellent." Ares said, and turned to Anmor. "We are done with the rebels. Now, take the men into the Castle Keep and take Sirpala prisoner. I'm done fooling around; Hyrule and all its hidden powers will belong to me!"

"Yes milord!" Anmor said, and mounted his dragon.

"Now then, you two will accompany me back to Iress, I have important business back in another world and I'd like you to be with me." Ares said, his glowing weapon suddenly disappearing.

"Yes master." Replied the two prisoners. They climbed onto Ares' dragon and the vision ended as he flew off into the distance.

Ruru found herself sobbing uncontrollably as the vision faded. She had no clue how he had did it, but Ares had reduced her sister to a walking automaton. There was little left of her, she saw it in her eyes. Ruru was too overcome with emotion to recognize the great power building in her, an energy gifted by the Crystals and the Triforce. She could only cry as Onta towed her across Hyrule in the Zora's deep blue waters. Her tears merged with the river and were lost amongst it.

**Chapter XXXIII – J3**

It was eerily familiar to be inside Air's rock again. Jenna had been here before, she and her friends had been here in an attempt to stop Alex from obtaining the Reveal Psynergy many months ago. Now they were here to prevent Isaac from acquiring it. But it was different this time because Jenna could have killed Alec had she needed to, and now she wasn't so sure she could kill Isaac when, or if he arrived. All they could do was sit on the center platform as it hovered in the strange magical ether of the tablet room. Winds whipped all around her and her party of friends, winds that seemed to tease and taunt them.

Time meant little inside that strange room, its magic qualities seemed to bend and distort it. It certainly amplified the principal that states that time passes more slowly when one is bored or anxious. Certainly, everyone in the group, including Jenna, were suffering from both of these afflictions. So none of them could guess how long they had been in there when finally something strange began to happen. The winds around them seemed to fluctuate. At times they blew harder, and at times they died down. There was a sudden strange rattling noise at the door from across the void. There was quite a distance across the emptiness from the door to the platform on which Jenna's party and the tablet rested, a distance which was spanned only by a few sparse hovering platforms that one would have to cross to reach the tablet. Apparently someone or something was about to emerge from the door and attempt it.

The door rattle harder and flew open, and Jenna and her party jumped to their feet. From the doorway emerged a group of assorted monsters, including all the strange oversized rodents and mutant saurian creatures which normally only roamed the Gondowan continent. The creatures were ill-footed and many fell as they attempted to cross the hovering stepping-stones. Jenna helped one along with a fire psynergy that knocked it completely off its footing and into the abyss. Hardly any of them even managed to get close, and the few who did were knocked away to fall to their deaths. Then from the door emerged a new threat; a group of bandits armed with swords and axes. These men were agile and light footed compared to the beasts from before, but they still weren't experts at navigating such dangerous pathways.

Jenna and her party members again effectively sniped the men off of their platforms as they got close, sending them to their deaths below. Three of them did manage to make it across safely and they found themselves outnumbered seven to three. Felix and Piers dealt with them swiftly and efficiently; one sword strike to stun and they tossed them off of the platform and into the void. Jenna admired to tactical advantage that this chamber seemed to afford them, but a pit of worry was welling up in her stomach. She knew ever since the disaster at Kibombo that Isaac wouldn't hesitate to kill her now, but she knew in her heart that she couldn't do the same to him. But she also knew he wouldn't use any of his extremely powerful summons without first obtaining the psynergy, so they would have some leverage against him if they managed to keep him away from it. Jenna saw him emerge from the door and she knew that it was time to test that theory.

"Look who's here!" Isaac exclaimed, his evil grin so out of place on his still young and wholesome looking face. "You've got more power than I thought! To be alive after the Judgment summon, you've got great talent!"

Jenna could only scowl at him for what he had become.

"Then again, I should know after having fought beside you all for over a year and a half. But, right now you're standing between me and my goal, and that's a deadly place to be. I'll only warn you once, give me the psynergy or die!" Isaac said, contempt marring his young voice.

"You know what we're here for, give us the Djinni." Felix said calmly.

"Fine fine, I guess I'll just have to finish the job I started in Kibombo then." Isaac said.

Isaac suddenly raised his hands into the air and a flash of psynergy flickered over him. The room around them suddenly rumbled, or at least seemed to. None of them knew if empty space could rumble. But they all knew something big was coming. Abruptly, a glowing black psynergy symbol appeared in the air, and from it came the ghastly armored form of Dullahan, the Lord of Despair. His headless form struck a familiar terror into the hearts of Jenna's band; they had fought him once before and only barely won. Now they were missing a member and were minus all their Djinn. To make matters worse, Dullahan was not the only figure to emerge from the psynergy portal. Out dropped the robed form of the Star Magician, a warlock of tremendous power with the ability to summon helpers to his side. All one could see within his enveloping robes are his two glowing yellow eyes. From the portal emerged also the hollow steel armor suit that is Sentinel, a master guardian wielding powers of strength and lightning. Finally came Valukar, the gigantic hulking beast. Valukar hefted his great war hammer and roared, his massive bulk looming in disturbing propinquity even from across the room. Things obviously were looking extremely grim for Jenna and her comparatively motley crew. But she saw that something was wrong with Isaac's strategy.

"Very impressive Isaac, but I'm afraid your friends are going to have a bit of a problem reaching us, considering their size and weight. It would be unlikely to see Dullahan even fit one of his massive boots onto one of those tiny stepping stones!" Jenna shouted, trying not to show how utterly terrified she was at the sight of all four of the summon guardians standing opposed to her and her friends.

"Though you are very right about that my dear Jenna, you must know that there is a solution to every problem." With these words from Isaac's mouth, the blood ran cold in every member of Jenna's party.

Isaac suddenly whipped his right fist up into the air, where the glowing triangle rested within his skin. "You see this artifact? It has afforded me tremendous power, a power that is not limited to a certain application like psynergy. No, this is raw, unformed power that I can mold to my every will! Observe it in action now!"

Isaac suddenly flattened his right fist and waved his palm over the void in front of him. Glowing gold energy flowed from his hand and spread out across the room, forming into a thick and solid surface. It completely bridged the gap between the platform where the door was and the platform that Jenna and her party stood. Isaac laughed and pointed at Jenna.

"Go now my minions, kill them all!" Isaac laughed.

Dullahan stepped forward onto the glowing floor, his boot meeting it with a solid, dull thud. Sentinel followed in step. Star Magician floated forward and waved his hands in mystic patterns. His magic summoned up the familiar glowing, floating orbs that granted his abilities of healing, self defense and explosive attack. Valukar broke into a run, his hooves slamming against the energy floor. He raised his hammer into the air and charged at Piers, swinging it madly.

Piers was able to dodge, Valukar moved extremely slowly compared to him. The psynergy spells suddenly filled the air as both sides attacked. Jenna decided that they should attack the biggest threat first, namely Dullahan. She and her fellows concentrated all their attacks on him. Jenna cast Searing Beam, Piers cast Diamond Berg, Ivan and Sheba cast Shine Plasma, Garet cast Liquefier and Mia cast ply on the rest of the party as opposing spells found their marks.

The spells struck effectively, but Dullahan himself could take an extraordinary amount of punishment without even flinching. He simply took the spells and kept on coming. He approached the party and cast his most deadly spell; Formina Sage. It formed a glowing pillar of yellow energy which he grasped and swung down at Ivan. It reduced Ivan to a smoldering, crumpled heap. At the same time, Sentinel used his Armor Crush ability on Piers, winding the Lemurian and knocking him backward several feet. Piers struggled to yank off his destroyed chest plate, which had suddenly cut into his front. He was interrupted by Valukar's hammer, which dented his head and sent him spinning unconscious across the room. A star mine from the Star Magician sent Sheba flying, burns covering her body. Felix cast Odyssey on Dullahan, and the ethereal swords pierced the hulking beast through. Dullahan only took it and then knocked Felix away like a fly. Sentinel then struck the downed Felix with a barrage of lightning psynergies to make sure he stayed down. Mia crouched down to cast Ply Well on him, but she was caught by a Stun attack from Valukar and fell to the ground as stiff as a board. Jenna was suddenly the last one standing, as Kraden had sensibly stayed behind. She looked over into Isaac's eyes pleadingly as the four Guardians approached her. She saw only anticipation for her death, it was a blow that struck her harder than any blow that the four approaching creatures could ever inflict on her. She fell to her knees and raised her arms out to them. Dullahan raised the glowing yellow energy of his Formina Sage; Valukar raised his hammer, and Star Magician wound up to toss another Star Mine. Then, suddenly the room around them rumbled again, and the guardians stopped and looked around confusedly.

The door which stood behind Isaac was part of the only physically tangible wall in the room, and suddenly this door and the wall around it buckled and bulged outward as something burst through. Isaac ran to get out of the way and his four summoned servants turned to see what had threatened their master. From the rubble emerged the strangest thing that Jenna had ever seen. It looked like a steel, egg-shaped vehicle crushing its way through the wall. It wasn't the reflective, silvery sheen of steel though; it had been painted crimson red and bore a crest of three crossing bloody swords. As it completely emerged from the wreckage, Jenna saw it hovering above the ground. Strange, stubby looking tubes on its front suddenly turned to face Isaac's summoned creatures and barked fire. Jenna could only guess as to what kind of psynergy or strange power this was, the tubes emitted harsh chattering like firecrackers she had lit off in festivals as a child. Suddenly the four summoned creatures staggered, dents and then holes appeared in Dullahan's armor as she watched. Valukar was riddled with these holes, he shrieked madly and fell forward into a pile of his own blood. The protective field that surrounded the Star Magician shimmered brightly, flickered, and disappeared. His robes suddenly fluttered and ripped, his blood spilled to the ground and he fell. Sentinel emitted a series of tortured clanking sounds as sparks flashed across him. He became more and more dented until he was eventually turned into a twisted pile of scrap. Dullahan suddenly charged at the interloping red vehicle and smashed his Formina Sage psynergy into it. The glowing yellow energy sliced right through it, and Jenna was suddenly blinded by the flash of an explosion. She blinked and saw that the red vehicle had erupted into a ball of flames and shrapnel, and now Dullahan was lying on the ground, ripped entirely in half by the explosion. She also noticed that she was lying on the ground; the shock from the explosion had blown her backwards. She felt the impossibly smooth energy floor that Isaac had cast underneath her and knew she was lucky to be alive.

Isaac stood dumbfounded, he had never seen such an extraordinary display. Equally shocking, figures began emerging from the smoking wreckage. Those same familiar black-clad men walked and crawled from the smoking rubble. Several of them were injured, some even severely. Those who had escaped without injury were now spreading out around Isaac to encircle him. Then, three more figures emerged. Jenna did not recognize the red robes, but Isaac did and he knew what kind of creatures lurked beneath them. He had fought them before, they had powers much the ones he had now.

The leader of the three robed ones stepped forward and removed his hood. Jenna gasped at the horrible creature she saw, its egg shaped head, spiraling, sharp horns, blood red skin and purple eyes were like nothing she had ever seen in her life. It looked at Isaac and smiled.

"Our master is coming to see you and he'll be here soon. Why don't you come peacefully and give us your Djinn and your piece of the Triforce?" It said.

"Let him come." Isaac scoffed. "Look what I did to your steel chariot! I can do it to him and I will do it to you if you insist on taking my power!"

"You cannot comprehend the forces you mock with your limited mind, you pathetic little human. Though you do indeed hold great power, so does master Ares. You will meet him soon, and it would be wise to comply now while you have the chance."

"I'm more than willing to bet I'm ten times more power than he!" Isaac bellowed.

One of the black-clad men who had walked behind Isaac suddenly produced what appeared to Jenna to be a black painted steel tube with handles. It suddenly spat a burst of light and sound, and a hole appeared in Isaac's back. Jenna was totally astounded by the power these people seemed to have. Isaac clutched his back and grunted. He used his curative psynergies and the wound closed itself rapidly, but it was a sobering dose of reality for him and Jenna could see his confidence suddenly falter.

"Each one of us can do that to you hundreds of times within the span of a few seconds. If you move, I will paralyze you and your body will be pulverized by a hail of steel from our guns." The blood red one said, his robes flapping in the breeze.

Isaac looked affronted, like a child who had just had his hand slapped. He scowled in rage at the red one in the robes. He suddenly sat and regained his air of confidence.

"Although that is impressive, I could be behind you with my sword before you would even see me move. But, I am intrigued by what you have said. I wish to meet this one who you speak of; he has been a thorn in my side for many months. You and your brethren have caused me much annoyance, and I shall take it out on him." Isaac said, pride and superiority dripping off his voice.

"As we thought you would say. It won't be long." The red robed one said. He then cocked his head up toward the ceiling as if he were trying to look through it, his purple eyes squinting slightly. "Not long indeed."

**Chapter XXXIV – A9**

After the initial battle between Ares' ship and the Aqua ship had ended, the skies over Saffron city became momentarily silent. The Aqua ship hovered alone a few scant miles North of the city limits, in plain view of anyone who had been stupid enough to stay around and watch. Most people had fled the city or had retreated into shelters, so the streets were empty. Wreckage from the buildings that Ares' ships had destroyed smoldered silently, debris piling in the streets. The columns of smoke roiled up into the sky and eventually were dispersed and carried away by higher altitude winds. A few brave men and women at the city streets pointed their cameras to the sky so that the world could see what was happening. Ash, Misty and Ashton watched anxiously from their bomb shelter's holographic TV. The Aqua ship simply sat there, almost gloating over the burning corpses of the other ships that had wrecked at its proverbial feet. That portion of ground just north of the city was now a flaming, pockmarked graveyard for once proud and sinister crafts.

Nobody but Ashley's family knew that she and Tanis were up there in that sky-blue battle carrier, and because of it they may have been the most worried family to see the events being covered on the TV. Word was spreading quickly now, the entire United Nations Fleet was coming, and the Red Cross would arrive at the city after the battle to help rebuild. Most were optimistic, the collective power of all the world's military might could stop one ship, couldn't it? But then, none of the newscaster could know that Teams Aqua and Magma were sending all of their fleets as well, and all of Ares' forces designated to invade Earth were about to converge on this point as well. Outside of the leaders of these forces, only Ashley and Tanis understood the collective scale of the battle that was about to occur. They were now leading a battalion of mind-controlled Aqua members up to the Aqua ship's bridge to capture it. Even Tanis could not comprehend or predict the final element that was also converging, despite his now honed abilities of precognition.

As Ashley had suspected, the bridge of the Aqua ship was easily taken. All Tanis had to do was control every one of its members, and he used the command crew to control the rest of the crew without actually using his powers to intrude on their minds. He had the ship's captain announce orders to them over the ship's com channels. He would only control the people necessary to run the ship and destroy anyone who still had retained their free will and decided to object to the idea of firing on other Aqua ships when the time came. Tanis and Ashley sat in the captain and first officer's chairs on the command platform in the center of the bridge, observing and giving orders as necessary. Tanis needn't even lift a finger to control any of them, he thought his instructions to them and they obeyed soundlessly with their empty eyes. Ashley knew she could never adjust herself to the blank, mindless expressions of the mentally enslaved. Even if it was for the greater good, it still sent shivers racing up and down her spine.

"Hmm, the approaching Aqua ships are querying us." Tanis observed dryly.

"Is that bad? Are we going to be found out?" Ashley asked urgently.

"Oh no, these bridge crewman know all the proper code words and responses. I'm just afraid that the Aqua team leader might hail us and try to speak with us directly." Tanis replied, shifting uncomfortably in a seat designed for humans.

"How long until they arrive?" Ashley asked.

Tanis titled his head down at the ops officer, who was working diligently at his station. "Five minutes." Tanis said tersely.

"Do we know when the Ares, Magma, and UN ships will be here?" Ashley asked.

"Roughly five minutes as well." Tanis said.

"Is there anything we can do to prepare?" Ashley asked nervously.

"Psych up." Tanis said, turning to face Ashley with a frank look. "What may happen next could test all of our emotions and nerves to the very breaking point. It is likely we will see Saffron City obliterated during the battle, along with your parents should be the destruction be intense enough. No matter how durable and strong their shelter is, it will not protect them if there is more than one nuclear blast in the city. Three in a row would be more than enough to breach it." Tanis said in a calm, almost calculating fashion.

"How can you make a judgment like that? You haven't even seen a nuclear explosion before!" Ashley cried, emotions rising quickly.

"No, but neither have you. Remember my father played a visual history of his entire life for me, and he had witnessed the power of thermonuclear explosions many times in his life. I think I can estimate just from remembering seeing ships explode from his memory." Tanis said.

"I… I can't let them die…" Ashley whispered.

Tanis turned his head down toward the ops station for a moment, and then turned back to Ashley. "We still have a scant few minutes left, just enough time for me to teleport down to the shelter and retrieve them." He said.

Ashley wiped the tears that had just started coming and looked up at him. "You would do that for me?"

"You know that they will be in just as much danger up here with us, probably even more?" Tanis asked.

"Yes I know, but should we fail, I would much rather die with them as a family." Ashley said.

"You have a warm heart indeed, Ashley Ketchum." Tanis said, smiling sincerely at her, and then disappeared into thin air.

Ashley sat back into the first officer's chair and breathed deeply. She felt a lot of relief at the prospect of having her family at her side, but she was still gravely worried about what was about to happen. She knew the immense risk of Tanis' gamble here; his plan was what many rational people would call totally insanity. Just betting everyone's fate on numerical dominance of the Aqua or Magma sides was far fetched, they were crime syndicates with no governmental ties and it was astounding to see that they had gathered enough funds to create even one ship of this scale without some sort of sponsors. Ashley corrected herself, they were international organized criminals and they could find despicable ways to make money after all. The very chair she was sitting on may have been bought and paid for with blood or drug money.

Somewhere in one of the bridge's stations a frantic beeping sounded out, and Ashley jumped up. Her nerves were drawn taut as a violin string and with good reason. The main fore camera blinked onto the main screen and focused on a line of dots forming in the distance. The zombie-like bridge crew automatically magnified the image, and Ashley saw an immense fleet of drab olive UN ships approaching, their numbers unbelievable even from a distance. Her mind suddenly flooded with hope, maybe this force was powerful enough to stop Ares!

In an eye's blink and a flashbulb's flash, Tanis reappeared on the command deck surrounded by Ashley's family. The lines of middle-age were set in striking relief on Ash's face, and Ashley knew at heart that it was only the tip of an iceberg of age. Her little brother Ashton was the polar opposite, his shining youthful eyes seemed to glow with energy. In the span of a few sparse moments, several things happened. Tanis whipped around and looked at the main screen, which was now viewing from the aft camera array and viewing a fleet of oncoming Magma ships. Misty ran over to Ashley and embraced her like any other worried mother would. Ash and Ashton looked around the Aqua ship's bridge, amazed by the technological power that the syndicate had managed to muster.

"I was so worried about you!" Misty said, her vice grip forcing breath out of Ashley.

"I'm alright mom! Let go, your hurting me!" Ashley said, only frustration showing and covering up the worry she had felt for her mother.

Ash turned and saw them and rushed over to make sure Ashley was alright as well. "You're okay, right Lei –Lei?" He said, looking for any injuries on her.

"Dad, how many times have I told you not to call me that anymore?" Ashley asked, embarrassed that her father would call her by her babyhood nickname in front of Tanis.

"Oh man this is so cool!" Ashton raved, running around the command deck and looking at the glowing holographic stations. He ran up to Ashley with excitement in his eyes. "I want an adventure just like yours!" He said, hopping energetically.

"I won't have it!" Misty said sternly.

"Aww mom!" Ashton wailed.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this family reunion," Tanis burst in, "But the battle is about to start. You might want to hold onto something."

The ship lurched under their feet and Ashley's family found seats to brace themselves in. Everyone was quiet as Tanis doled out orders to the emptily obedient bridge crew. The ship turned aft, toward the fast incoming Magma ships. They grew quickly in the camera's view, the massive M's painted on their sides making Ashley and Ash both subconsciously think of Mewtwo's name.

"Fire all weapons now, bring them swift oblivion." Tanis said.

Trails of smoke tipped by points of silver and fire traced the space between the ships as missiles were released. The Aqua fleet ships, following orders sent out by Tanis, warmed their energy cannons, released fightercraft, and empty their missile bays. The Magmas responded in kind. The UN ships decided to hang back and let their enemies damage themselves. Above them, Ares' ships descended from the clouds to join the fray.

Ashley watched the screen intently, her eyes tracing missile paths. She saw flashes as they impacted, and Magma ships staggered and fell out of the sky. Beams of red light arced out from the Magma ships and diced into the Aqua ships, piercing effortlessly. Blue beams responded in kind, dicing more Magma ships. Ashley didn't see a missile heading straight for the camera until it was only a scant few feet away. There was only the red, pointed nose of the missile, and then the screen displayed static and the ship shook and rumbled around them.

"That was so cool!" Ashton exclaimed, his face beaming.

Truly, Ashley thought, he must think he's inside some form of video game.

"This is just like a video game!" Ashton shouted. "Make it do that again!"

Ashley sighed rubbed her forehead as the foreshadowing lance of pain in her skull foretold a monumentous headache. She knew she would be lucky to see her birthday next week.

A/N: And so the battle for Earth starts! What will happen to Isaac? Where will Ruru find aid against the Iresians? Once again, this was incredibly exciting to write and I hope it was as exciting for you to read. Keep with me as this part of the story draws closer to conclusion!


	12. Part I: Two Descendants Chunk 11

**Legacies  
**A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Well isn't it ironic that I'm always apologizing for the wait before each chapter, and only now have I actually kept you guys waiting longer than usual! I'm sorry this took such an incredibly long time to write, but I had finals at the time, along with the first bad case of writer's block that I've had in a long time. Anyway, this massive 26 page chunk is the conclusion of Part I! Enjoy!

**Chapter XXXV – T9**

Tanis' powers seemed to have transcended their original bounds by an unbelievable amount. When he had first come out of his tube a scant few days ago, he had barely even been able to teleport. Now he was managing an entire network of controlled minds across the Aqua ship. The information seemed to flow into his senses, damage reports, weapon statuses, tactical command information, everything that the instruments of the bridge reported jumped straight from the minds of the controlled Aqua members to Tanis. He was able to return commands at an equally rapid pace, he only thought his orders and the Aquas carried them out within a few seconds. It was almost like he had become the ship's brain.

The battle played out much differently than Tanis had predicted. He could see through the cameras that the UN ships were present, but they weren't engaging the Aqua or Magma forces. He could also sense the gathering energy of Ares' ships, but they too seemed hesitant about jumping into the fray. The newly arrived Aqua and Magma fleets were free to pound themselves into rubble without interruption, and Tanis knew that as soon as one side emerged victorious, the UN and Ares would both jump in.

The battle proceeded in a hobbling manner, apparently Team Magma was hesitant to employ any form of melee combat between capital ships, their carriers and battleships were hanging back and firing from a distance. Tanis knew the melee capabilities of the Aqua ships however, and he relayed orders to the rest of the Aqua ships to pursue the Magma ships, break their formation, and board them. The Aqua ships charged forward, their engines pushing 130 percent and blazing away with their guns and missiles. The continuing barrage from the Magma ships cut down the Aqua ships as they approached, but the Aqua ships were still doing considerable damage in return. A fairly large amount of Aqua ships managed to make it to the Magma fleet's front line and the melee began.

What ensued was a messy yet glorious brawl in the sky. Different classes of Aqua ships had different types of melee weapons, but all were devastatingly effective. Destroyer class ships, slightly smaller than battleships, ran alongside Magma ships and shot arms out into the sides of the enemy. These blade-tipped arms skewered and diced through the Magma ships roughly but effectively, and were powerful when used artfully. One ship managed to carve the engines right off the back of a Magma ship, causing it to plummet straight to the ground without further ado. Carrier class ships had the traditional grappling arms and boarding party insertion tubes. These ships latched onto other Magma battleships and brought chaos to their innards like some form of foul poison. Fighters furiously whipped around the invading Aqua ships like enraged bees, vainly attempting to seriously damage them with their small guns. The sky was filled with the black puffy clouds of missile detonations and tracers slashed the air brutally.

Tanis watched as Magma forces dwindled much more rapidly, they were vastly vulnerable to melee attacks, and he had successfully exploited it. As Aqua boarding parties reached the bridges of Magma ships, they took control and several of these Magma ships simply turned and fired on their allies. In this fashion, the formation was completely disrupted, and unified control over the Magma fleet was totally lost. Their numbers dwindled until there were none left that had not been commandeered or destroyed. Tanis turned all his ship's cameras and looked up to see more ships emerging from the clouds above, these bearing the bloody emblems of Ares' empire.

Ares' crimson ships screamed down from the thick clouds at an incredible speed, most likely sped along by gravity. Tanis dared a quick look over at the UN fleet, it had not moved an inch. Good he thought, he could spend the lives of all these Aqua members against Ares and then the humans can finish them off. But upon further study, Tanis saw that an incredible amount of the crimson ships was pouring down out of the clouds. Easily triple the amount of ships that were in the Aqua fleet. Even worse was that this great fleet was splitting itself in half, one half to attack the UN and one half to attack Team Aqua. Things were suddenly looking extremely grim, Tanis knew he had lost his gamble horribly.

"Ashley, I'm afraid we're going to have to sacrifice the existence of Saffron City in order to win." Tanis said frankly, turning toward the still young trainer and her family. "There is no way we can stop Ares without detonating the reactors of several ships."

"Are you sure there is no other way?" Ash said desperately, almost pleading at Tanis.

The ship suddenly shook violently around them, and Tanis heard the reports flowing into his mind. An energy beam from Ares' fleet had struck them and they were losing power to their engines. "I'm sure of it." Tanis said flatly. "Don't think it's something I do lightly."

Tanis sent a frank and emotionless order to the engineers on the ship. He told them to remove the fail safes and lockdown procedures of the reactor. He also relayed the kamikaze orders to the rest of the Aqua fleet. They emotionlessly confirmed the order, not questioning since it was the Aqua flagship that Tanis had seized and they thought the team boss was in control. Apparently, luck had been on Tanis' side when he had commandeered this ship, but a part of him wondered why they had engaged alone before the fleets had converged here. He pushed it aside and concentrated on making sure that everything would fall into place after he and Ashley's family would teleport out. He suddenly struck the captain of the ship and Team Aqua boss dead with a burst of psychic energy, so that he would not be there to cancel the kamikaze assault after Tanis teleported out and lost control over him and his crew.

Tanis then made sure that all of the assault orders and coordinates were cemented in the ship's computer, just in case anyone decided to try and turn the ship back. The ship shook violently as multiple missiles cratered its side, but its engines remained undamaged. Tanis walked over to Ashley's huddled family and held their hands.

"Where do you wish to go while these ships rip each other apart? We cannot stay much longer, the sky here is about to become a storm of nuclear fire."

"The caves of Mt. Moon would be a great place to find shelter!" Misty exclaimed.

Tanis reached into Misty's mind, shoving aside memories of Pokemon battles to find an image of the caves. He eventually found a likely looking cavern and pulled out of Misty's mind. He then grasped dimensional fibers with his mind and twisted them, moving them through space to arrive inside Mt. Moon. The blue painted bridge of the Aqua ship melted away into blackness, which then faded into more blackness which resided in the gloomy caverns under the mountainside.

Tanis instinctively tried to open the light port on his robotic arm, but then remembered that it was gone, replaced by a real biological arm. He muttered and was about to form an energy ball just for the sake of illumination when both Ash and Ashley produced flashlights and turned them on. Natural cave formations appeared around them in the illumination, not like the uniformly even walls of the cave that Tanis' lab had resided in. Stalactites and stalagmites made the passages around them dense with a crisscrossing vertical mesh of stone. The distinct sound of dripping water filled the air all around them. The passageway smelled of age, a sort of must that no regularly human inhabited space contained. Tanis decided not to dally observing the cave and reached out with his mind's eye to see the outcome of his kamikaze assault.

He saw the picture form clearly in his mind, an overview of the entire sky around Saffron. The Aqua ships were charging at Ares' ships, and Ares' ships were doing the same. When the two groups of ships met, Tanis lost the picture for a moment and could only see pure, blinding white from the multiple detonations. As the light died down, he saw a lumpy mass of radioactive clouds. One nuclear detonation normally formed a mushroom cloud, but when almost thirty of them went off in close proximity, the clouds they left merged together into what resembled a great bulging tumor in the sky. Tanis concentrated harder, and saw the scope of the devastation. Not a single ship within many miles had survived. Aqua ships, UN ships, Ares' ships, they had all been evaporated. Saffron City wasn't even a skid mark on the blackened earth below. Tanis sighed heavily as sorrow for the innocent dead flooded into his mind. No matter how much he told himself that an infinitely larger amount would have died should he not have done what he had just done, he still could not get rid of the horrible guilt that was sloshing its way into his mind like some sort of black river.

"Well, is it done?" Ash asked nervously.

"Yes." Tanis said, his voice suddenly breaking. "They're dead, all dead."

Tanis turned to face Ash, tears suddenly breaking free from his once controlled eyes. "For the good of the world, it is done. Everyone in Saffron is dead, and I'm sure the people in any neighboring cities or towns will be dead now. But, the world would have died by Ares' hands, which I have just proverbially chopped off. Though this was probably the noblest deed I will ever have done in my life, I will never be able to forgive myself for killing the people of Saffron." Tanis said, his voice stuttering and the tears flowing.

"You did what you had to do." Ashley said, trying to comfort Tanis.

Tanis suddenly felt something, an energy fluctuation the grabbed his attention away from his emotions and made his heart skip a beat. He couldn't quite pinpoint it for a moment, but when he did it stole his breath from his lungs and he felt panic rise in his mind. He had felt it, there were more of Ares' ships coming, many more still, descending down from space toward different points of the world as if the Saffron City incident hadn't just happened. He suddenly felt an even deeper sense of sorrow and self hatred, now it seemed that the sacrifices of all those innocent people had been in vain, Ares was still about to destroy the rest of the world. Then those emotions changed. They changed into a power that slowly rose in Tanis' mind and body. There was a slight tingling sensation in his right hand, and then heat radiated out from the Triforce piece he owned. His emotions boiled into anger, an anger toward Ares of such a magnitude that Tanis could almost see red like a filter in front of his eyes. It was the most powerful emotion he had ever felt before; his father's words had done it no justice.

"Tanis, you're glowing." Ashley said, her voice indicating fear. Tanis was too absorbed in his rising emotions to notice.

"I'll…" Tanis whispered, his voice echoing with malevolence in his companions' minds. "I'll kill him…"

Tanis' rational mind was absorbed in the storm of rage and his emotions carried him out of control. He suddenly targeted one of Ares' ships descending down toward Purity Canyon and teleported there, leaving Ashley and her family behind.

**Chapter XXXVI – R10**

"Where do we go from here?" Ruru inquired of Onta as the two of them sat in the grassy Forest Meadow.

Onta took a deep swig from his water skin and pondered for a moment. "Doesn't Hyrule have alliances with the four bordering Kingdoms of Dantun, Theria, Bensor and Il'Nead?" He asked.

"Yes, but talks with them have been thin for quite some time, and we have no idea what they've been doing, especially since the problem with the Iresians first arose." Ruru said.

Ruru heard a rustling in the trees behind her and she turned to see Saria rushing through the foliage. She looked panic stricken, she was blundering through the greenery madly instead of her usual graceful bound. Terror was obvious on her young face.

"Run! Get away while you can! The Iresians are burning the forest!" Saria screamed.

Ruru and Onta leapt to their feet, Onta sprinting deep into the woods and   
Ruru running over to grab Saria and help her.

"I can run faster than you, let's escape together!" Ruru said.

"No! I have to stay here and help my friends!" Saria said, her green hair flailing madly.

"But you'll die!" Ruru shouted.

"I've lived for thousands of years now in this old forest. It's about time death caught up to me! Besides, if I stray too far from the Deku Tree I'll die anyway! Now go!" Saria shouted and shoved Ruru away.

Ruru dashed across the Forest Meadow to catch up with Onta, when she looked back she saw smoke rising from the forest behind her, accompanied by the shadowy forms of flying dragons. They were circling over the burn site and spitting fireballs down into the trees. Ruru decided it was best to stay unseen and ran to the cover of the trees alongside the edge of the meadow and ran as fast as she could due East.

Gerudos have always been much quicker runners than Zoras, mainly since Zoras are not well adapted to moving on land. Due to this, it did not take Ruru long to catch up to Onta as they dashed deeper and deeper into the woods. The trees whizzed past them and branches whipped them and slashed them harshly.

"Where do we go from here?" Onta shouted to Ruru as they ran.

"The Dantunian border is five miles east of here! We should seek aid and sanctum there!" Ruru replied.

"If the dragons don't catch us and burn us first!" Onta shouted.

"Don't talk, just run!" Ruru returned, feeling her lungs start to burn.

The two of them ran as fast as they could for quite some time until dehydration caused Onta to collapse. At that time, they had put considerable distance between themselves and the dragons, but they could still smell the smoke in the air and a dragon roar punctuated the atmosphere every once in awhile. As Onta rested and pulled more and more drinks from his water skin, Ruru could only think of her homeland meeting the same fate as the forest. She also feared dearly for her sister, a deep pit of fear was forming in her stomach and started burning like an ulcer.

A dragon's roar sounded at an alarming propinquity to them, and Onta climbed to his feet.

"We need to get moving again. Come on." Onta said doggedly, and Ruru admired his perseverance. She knew she would not perform as well underwater as Onta was doing now out of it.

They sprinted through the trees again, trees that were looking older and older as they progressed. Soon there were no more branches to whip at them as the trees became taller and taller the further they went into the forest. The smell of smoke began to fade and the smell of fresh peat and moss replaced it. But the sound of a single pair of beating wings began getting closer and closer.

The flapping of the wings was a loud, obvious sound when Ruru turned her head up to look. She saw the branches above suddenly part as the blood red Iresian dragon broke through the canopy and dove at them. It roared hungrily at the sight of its prey and the Iresian rider pointed his spear down at them. Ruru suddenly found herself compelled to pull out and finger the elemental gems in her side pouch. She stopped suddenly and Onta turned and shouted something in surprise.

Seemingly reflexively, Ruru held out the gems in front of her in one hand while presenting the Triforce piece embedded in her other hand. Electric energy screamed through her veins and she emitted a cry of rage that pierced the air like a knife. Bolts of colored energy leapt from her hands and ripped through the air jaggedly to meet the Iresian Dragon as it power-dove down toward her. The bolts of energy struck the dragon and enveloped it in a glowing explosion of fire and electricity. The dragon emitted a cry of mortal agony as it was burned from the inside out, a weak and tortured cry that was cut off quickly as its body was flash-fried into a lump of carbon.

A smoldering pile of char and molten steel was all that was left when it fell to the ground. Ruru suddenly felt herself turn cold, her knees buckled underneath her and she fell to the soft peat forest floor. Her hands felt like they were on fire, the elemental gems fell from her hands and the ground hissed and steamed where they came to rest. The Triforce piece in her hand almost completely stopped glowing altogether. Ruru felt hands on her shoulders and saw Onta looking down at her.

"…You…amazing…alright?" Was all she heard through the ringing in her ears. She tried once valiantly to sit up, but she had foolishly used up too much of her energy and she fell to the ground and into the awaiting arms of unconsciousness.

What Ruru felt next was a creeping warmth, the kind of warmth that seemed to specifically radiate from a cozy campfire. She slowly emerged from her sleep and opened her eyes to see the darkened forest trees around her. She sat up and looked deep into the forest, suppressing a yawn. She heard the crackling and popping of the campfire behind her, its warmth radiated against her back. She turned and faced it, Onta was sitting in front of it and warming himself.

"How long was I out?" Ruru asked.

"A day and a half. That was an amazing display you made back there, I wasn't surprised you were out for so long." Onta replied.

Ruru looked down at her right hand, the Triforce piece was glowing at its normal luminosity now.

"I had heard the rumors that you had found a piece of the legendary lost Triforce, but I hadn't believed them until I saw you do that. It was amazing, I can't imagine the power one might gain from the whole Triforce."

"What of the Iresians?" Ruru asked.

"There's been no sign of them since you killed that one and his dragon. I've been carrying you in a makeshift wheel barrow since you passed out, we're getting close to the Dantunian border now." Onta said, gesturing into the dark trees to his right.

"You've carried me all this way? My God! You look positively ill!" Ruru exclaimed.

"Yes, I used the last drop from my water skins this morning, now the dehydration is starting to kick in." Onta said, resting his chin in his hands. His once shimmering damp skin was now dry and cracked, bleeding in some places.

"We need to get to Dantun as soon as possible then, before you dry out!" Ruru said, standing up.

Ruru's knees wobbled unsteadily and she sat back down, discouraged.

"Don't try to get up, you need more rest. I myself do too, in fact. I've been pulling you all day and my muscles ache terribly. Besides, it's dangerous to travel at night in the part of the forest. Without this fire the monsters would feast upon us without hesitation." Onta said.

Ruru reflexively jerked her head around and looked deep into the misty, dark foliage. She was sure that just for a moment that she saw a pair of yellow eyes glint in the bushes before disappearing. It sent a shiver up her spine and she reluctantly turned to face Onta again.

"You've been up tending the fire this whole time?" She asked.

"Yes, though it's not too late right now. You can sleep a few more hours before taking a shift to watch the fire." Onta said.

Ruru looked into Onta's still shimmering, solid black eyes and felt compassion well up within her.

"No, I've slept long enough! You're sick from dehydration and you need your rest! Sleep for the rest of the night, I'll tend the fire!" She said.

"But milady! You're still not fully recovered!" Onta replied with compassion in kind.

"Listen my friend. If you won't respect my wishes as a friend, will you at least respect them for me as the temporary Elder of the entire Gerudo race?" Ruru asked, her apprentice's tiara now feeling much heavier.

Onta sighed heavily and smiled. "I will respect you as both." He said, and crawled over to the pile of leaves he had put together as a makeshift sleeping place.

Ruru watched him climb into the leaves and sighed. She looked deep into the fire's flames and watched as tiny embers broke free of the blazing logs and tumbled free into the air, carried by the glorious updrafts of the flames' warmth. Her eyes wandered a little, she looked down at her feet like one who is embarrassed, and looked up at her waist only to notice her water canteen was still there. She gasped and wanted to smack herself for her stupidity.

"Hey Onta!" she shouted. "Get up for a second!"

"What, what is it?" he asked.

"I think I still have some water left!" Ruru replied.

Ruru crawled over to him and twisted the cap off of her flask. She sighed with relief to see it was brimming full. She handed it to Onta and he greedily took several large gulps from it. When he finished he handed it back to her considerably lighter than it had been before.

"Thanks." Onta said, smiling with a glow of new life in his face.

"Hey, you're the one who carried me in a wheel barrow for a day and a half!" Ruru said, smiling down at him.

**Chapter XXXVII – J4**

Jenna couldn't believe that she was yet to be noticed as the events she saw unfolded before her. Isaac had stood waiting among the black-clad men for a solid ten minutes, and had began to shift in an impatient manner when something began to rumble deep in the rock around them.

"He has arrived. Please return with us to the surface." One of the red robed ones said.

"Yes, but hold on for just a moment, I have to finish with something." Isaac suddenly turned and began walking toward the Reveal Psynergy Tablet, which Jenna was lying next to. She clamped her eyes shut and hoped Isaac wouldn't realize she was alive.

"All this trouble over a simple little Psynergy, such a shame you had to die like this Jenna." Isaac suddenly said. Jenna felt a bolt of pain scream across her side as Isaac kicked her away from the Tablet.

Jenna spun to a stop and repressed the tears of pain that were forming from the lightning of pain shooting up her side. She wondered how many of her ribs were broken from that.

"Now Tablet, give to me your power! Grant me the ability to see through illusions to the heart of truth!" Isaac shouted.

Jenna felt the wind in the room whip up into a frantic pace. She heard energy hum in the air, emanating from the tablet. The sounds of the magic runes flying forth filled the air and one large flash blinded all those looking for a few moments. Then the air was still again, and Jenna heard Isaac chuckling.

"Three down and one to go." Isaac said under his breath.

"He will not wait long, you must come with us quickly." The red robed one said.

"Yeah yeah, let's just go already." Isaac said.

"Since your summoned creatures have destroyed our APC, we will carry ourselves up to the surface."

"What do you mean by that?" Isaac asked in puzzlement.

At this point Jenna dared to open her eyes again. She saw the black-clad men and the three red robed ones encircle Isaac and then begin to glow. They suddenly hovered up into the air, out the hole in the wall, and p through the tunnel through the ceiling out of sight. Jenna didn't know how it was happening or what was going on, but she knew she had to follow them and find out what would happen next. She quickly utilized her Cool Aura Psynergy to heal the wounds dealt to her and jumped to her feet. She began climbing up the tunnel that the craft had bored through the rock with a brisk pace. It was a sloppy, jagged tunnel with many rock protrusions and so was easy for her to climb. It wasn't long before she reached the surface and poked her head up like a mole out of its hole.

What she saw beyond was a spectacle beyond her imagination. A giant gleaming hulk of metal was hovering in the sky. It was painted entirely in red with that same emblem of three crossed swords that had been on the vehicle driven by the red robed ones. She also saw a strange, distinct line miles higher up in the sky. It was a line that she could trace with her eyes all the way from one horizon to another. But it was not perplexing her as much as the giant hovering thing was, she was trying to fathom the scope and power of the Hover Psynergy that could hold an object like that in the air. Then she suddenly noticed a smaller object approaching, similar in color and markings to its immense fellow flying a few thousand feet higher up. It approached them silently and came to rest on the rocks in front of Isaac and the accompaniment of black-clad men and red robed ones.

A door hissed open on the side of the craft and a ramp extended and came to rest on the rocks below. Out stepped a being very similar to the red robed ones, it too had the same egg shaped head, spiraling horns and purple eyes, but on its forehead was a strange emblem, a circle with curving spines that extended from its top and bottom. The whole creature was wearing a set of crimson body armor not entirely like the kind worn by Dullahan himself. Suddenly the others in the red robes bowed, as did the black-clad men.

I've heard quite a lot about you, Lord Isaac. My name is Ares, and I've come to you with a proposal."

"What kind of proposal?" Isaac asked.

"It's quite simple really. You want to rule this world, but you don't have enough power to do it yet. I do. I suggest we work together. I will let you use my forces to conquer this world for yourself, if you rule it as an officer within my empire."

Isaac only smirked. "You must take me for a fool. I certainly can tell you don't need me to take this world. You have enough power to rule several, I can feel it. Why would you invite me to be an unnecessary middle-man who would only get in the way?"

Ares smirked. "You're quite sharper than you look child. You're still a bit young to be a world dominator, but already you've proven yourself worthy by seeing through my ruse. As one person once said to me, it's time to cut the crap. If you give me the elemental spirits you possess, as well as your third of the Triforce, I will spare your life." Ares said maliciously.

"Hmph. You obviously don't know me very well. I've already killed seven people who used to be life long friends to keep these articles of power. Even if you had a million soldiers at your command I would not give them up!" Isaac said defiantly.

"Oh but you see my friend, I do!" Ares said and snapped his fingers.

In an instant, small individual flashes of light flickered in the air around them and thousands upon thousands of the red robed servants appeared, each carrying a glowing weapon. In addition, more of the black-clad men appeared as well, each carrying one of the deadly fire spitting tubes. Jenna slowly ducked her head down, hoping she would go unnoticed.

There was silence for a moment as Jenna listened, and then she heard Isaac chuckle faintly.

"Bravo." Isaac said in a tone of resignation. "Indeed, well played. You're an artist with the trump card."

"I think you'll find at this point that my first offer was much more attractive, but sadly now it is gone. Now give me the Triforce!" Ares said forcefully.

Isaac chuckled again. "I guess you're not talented at paying attention to what others say to you. I'll say it one more time. You will have to pry it out of my cold, dead hand."

"It will be very satisfying for me when I do." Ares hissed.

The air was suddenly rife with the chattering sound of the fire tubes and Jenna gasped. She dared a glance over the rim and saw that Isaac had formed a golden energy shield around himself, flashes of light were covering it like a swarm of angry bees. This went on for a few seconds without results, and Ares snapped one of his deformed three fingers. The firing stopped and the air fell silent. Suddenly the black-clad men began scurrying into the small red vehicle , which closed itself up after the last one had entered.

"I hope that's not all you can do!" Isaac shouted from inside his shield.

"My friend, that's not even the beginning!" Ares laughed.

Ares suddenly let loose a horrifying battle cry, one that shook every being within miles right down to its core. A glowing axe formed in Ares' hand and he flew forward and swung it at Isaac's shield. The glowing weapon cleaved right through the golden energy as if it were fresh butter out of the churn. Isaac stumbled backwards and right into the arms of one of the red robed ones.

"And if you think that was impressive, every one of my blood acolytes here has the exact same power! Try to fathom that with your small deluded mind and you'll be sitting for ages!" Ares laughed.

"If your force is this powerful, then stop toying with me now and get serious! If there's one thing I can't stand it's to be mocked! Have at thee!" Isaac roared.

Isaac charged forward at Ares, drawing his new sword and swinging it in a vicious arc that would have lopped off Ares' head. Ares suddenly disappeared however, and Isaac stumbled forward and almost fell as the follow-through momentum caused by the lack of a blow pulled him off center.

"But I rather quite like toying with you!" Ares said, materializing behind Isaac out of thin air. "I think I'll do it a bit longer until the fun wears off."

Isaac swung his sword around to try and dice Ares with a powerful blow, but again his melted into thin air. He reappeared standing on Isaac's head, yawning and pretending to be bored. Isaac lurched under the weight and swung his head forward to throw Ares off, but the foe only teleported one more time. This time Ares reappeared lying on the ground next to Isaac. He grabbed Isaac's feet and pulled them out from under him. Isaac toppled over and came face to face with Ares.

"My my my, you're quite easily confounded aren't you?" Ares remarked, and then laughed right in Isaac's face.

Jenna was enthralled as she watched this play out, horrified that someone with this much power could ever exist. He was making an absolute fool out of Isaac, the man who now controlled every Djinni in Weyward. Then it struck Jenna, if Isaac's anger were to rise to far, he might foolishly use another destructive summon with them! Then she realized that there was nothing keeping him from doing it, and she was now in incredible danger just by being within a few miles of this confrontation. She slowly climbed down from the ledge, avoiding until she was out of sight. Once she was sure she was out of earshot, she threw all caution to the wind and began scrambling down the rocks with careless abandon. Reaching the bottom, she dashed into the Tablet room to find that the magic floor Isaac had cast was thankfully still there, it must have been self preserving. She ran at full throttle across the room to the unconscious and possibly dead bodies of her comrades.

The group had always made sure to carry several waters of life collectively, having each member carry a few to ensure there was always someone conscious to administer them. Jenna only had three, and she used them first on the party's healers, Mia and Piers. Mia jolted upright, her mind still in full battle mode from the moment she had been struck down fighting Isaac's summoned beasts.

"Ply Well!" She shouted out the Psynergy spell instinctively as she was thrown awake, the spell simply floated randomly in the air without Mia having directed it at a target.

"No Jenna, it's alright! Our battle is over!" Jenna urged.

"What, did we win? Is everyone alright?" Mia asked frantically.

"No time to explain, we're still in grave danger! I need you to apply waters of life and healing spells to the rest of the party as fast as humanly possible, this whole place could be destroyed in a cataclysm at any moment!"

Mia obediently jumped to her feet, took a quick glance around the room, and then rushed over to Felix's bloody form to administer the potion to him. Within a minute the entire party was back on its feet with Jenna leading them past the ruined craft and down through the maze-like passages that make up the interior of Air's Rock.

The passage through the maze was always much quicker descending than it was ascending, and the party managed to scamper through the already solved puzzles and traps in only a few minutes. Jenna explained the situation to the rest of the party as they progressed, telling them of the necessity to find shelter at a safe distance from Air's rock. They dashed across the stretches of desert and plains that surround the mountain, hoping not to be seen by Ares or his Acolytes. They knew that if any of them weren't currently transfixed by their battle with Isaac, it'd be pretty easy to look down onto the plains and see them sprinting across the dusty ground below. Jenna knew that she would know it right away if they were discovered, given Ares' insane ability to teleport without exit and entry ports. He would appear in front of them holding his glowing weapon, ready to dice them all at leisure. Jenna shook her head and decided not to think about worst-case scenarios and only to focus on her running.

As they ran, Felix suddenly called out to Jenna. "Look! Back at the peak of the Rock! You can see flashes!"

Jenna turned her head back and saw that indeed, flashes of red and gold light were blinking madly atop the mountain's peak. No doubt Ares had finally decided to get serious with Isaac. Jenna returned to staring at the ground in front of as she ran, thankful that Isaac's ire had not been raised enough to cause him to bring forth a summon yet. They still needed to put more distance between him and themselves should that happen, especially when that distance was nothing but open plains and desert.

They ran for some time longer before the rolling crest of a hill rose up out of the shimmering distance. Jenna heard a rumbling growing behind her and she knew that the summon was coming know, but she had no idea of knowing which one. She hoped it was a lesser one, not one like Judgment or Catastrophe, then they would be doomed even if they had put several miles between themselves and Air's rock. She knew they would barely have time to make it to the hill and decided that it was going to be the best they would get in terms of cover. She relayed this decision to the others and then redoubled her pace toward the hill as the rumbling grew louder behind her.

Reaching the hill Jenna leapt behind it and gasped for breath, her leg muscles and lungs burning with fatigue. She had never sprinted so far in her entire life. The others followed suit and Jenna poked her head above the crest of the hill to see if she could determine the type of summon about to strike. The red and gold lights were flashing more furiously than ever atop the mountain's peak, and the clouds in the sky were concealing the summoned attacks that were about to emerge and plunger Air's Rock into oblivion. Then Jenna saw it, the clouds parted almost magically and what emerged struck her cold with terror. Not only were both the Judgment and Catastrophe summons both flying down toward the mountain's peak, but so were the Meteor, Boreas, and Daedalus summons. Isaac must have used every single one of the Djinni. In her mind, Jenna could only weakly laugh, knowing it was like Isaac to overdo it like this in the last second. He was now showing Ares that he too was an artist with the trump card as well.

**Chapter XXXVIII - A10**

Ashley couldn't believe that Tanis was gone. It was all she could do to sit there unmovingly trying to comprehend what had just happened. It wasn't up until now that she realized how much of a friend Tanis was to her, and now he had teleported himself to almost certain doom. She had seen what just one of those Blood Acolytes could do to him, she couldn't imagine what a whole swarm was capable of.

"Where'd he go?" Ashton asked bewilderedly, not quite grasping the gravity of the situation.

"Do we look like we know?" Misty snapped, looking up and breaking her continuous stare at the cave floor.

Ashton clamped his mouth shut and then looked down at the floor as well. The beams from their two flashlights flickered across the room, providing only fleeting illumination that didn't penetrate past a few layers of stalactites and stalagmites. Shadows danced merry jigs across the stone as the light moved aimlessly around the room at the whims of its holders.

Ashley found herself reaching down into her right pocket for no apparent reason, she pulled her hand out and found it grasping the two sparkling gems that had came out of Mewtwo's Sarcophagus. Tanis had entrusted them to Ashley for protection. She held her Flashlight beam on them and they glittered in a strangely unnatural sense. Ashley suddenly felt a strange warmth emanate from them into her hand. It was strangely reassuring, she looked at them more closely as the heat ran up her arm. She suddenly felt a jolt of electricity run up her arm and something flickered inside her mind. An image formed inside her head, as if she were watching a drive in movie. She saw Tanis inside one of Ares' ships. He was in a rage, slaughtering crowds of black-clad men and Blood Acolytes. She couldn't stop the sequence as it played out in her mind, but she also wanted desperately to know if Tanis would be alright. She watched in rapt fascination and with a tinge of fear as Tanis killed mindlessly, an expression of sorrow driven wrath painted on his face.

When there was nothing left of those who opposed him except for a large pile of gore at his feet, Tanis stood silent, panting like a dog with his eyes closed. Ashley guessed that he was finally recovering from his emotional fit and might be coming back into a reasonable state. She whispered his name in her head and she saw him suddenly perk up as if he heard faintly heard it.

"Ashley?" He whispered confusedly.

Suddenly the picture flashed violently and a bolt of pain arced through Ashley's mind she clutched her head and doubled over on the rough stone floor of the cave. The image faded away into nothingness and as Ashley's senses returned their attention back to her present situation, she felt a burning pain now roaring inside her head and in the palm of her hand. She saw the gems had fallen to the floor, small but definite burn marks were embedded in the skin of her palm where she had been holding them.

"Come on Ashley! Answer me!" Ash said desperately, and Ashley was suddenly aware of his hands shaking her.

"I'm…alright." She coughed and sat up.

"What happened?" Misty inquired, looking at Ashley with a face marred now with continuous worry.

"I don't know…I saw Tanis…I think he's in trouble." Ashley said, the pain in her head slowly clearing.

A distinct, easily recognizable, and somewhat noble sound suddenly echoed through the caverns to meet all their ears, a deep bark. It was a bark that electrified Ashley to the core, made her brain jump with adrenaline pumping recognition. She knew that bark well, she had been tracking its owner for months.

"What was that?" Ashton asked.

"Entei…" Ashley said, her voice quiet with awe.

The bark suddenly echoed forth once more, louder and much closer. Ashley found her strength instantaneously as the adrenaline flooded her system. She stood and pulled a Poke ball off her Trainer's belt. It contained Ifrit, her champion Charizard and first Pokemon. Ifrit was her most powerful Pokemon and also her most reliable, it had once flown her almost thirty miles when she had almost missed registering for her first battle against the old Elite Four. She knew that Ifrit could beat Entei, even if they were both type identical and at disadvantages. This was the same old feeling Ashley got, the rush of excitement of an oncoming battle and the possibility of catching Entei. It was a feeling she had almost forgotten since she had met Tanis and that was now pushing her concern for him out of her mind. She tossed the Poke ball to the floor and in a glorious blaze of white light Ifrit emerged and unfolded its wings majestically.

Like most Charizard of its kind, Ifrit was often unruly and recalcitrant at times. It looked back at Ashley with a look that to her, seemed almost scolding. It struck Ashley that Ifrit was annoyed that she hadn't let it out of its Poke ball to battle in weeks. It let out a short growl to seemingly drive its point across.

"Alright Entei! Show your face! Come and fight me now to prove your strength as a fire Pokemon!" Ashley shouted into the dancing Darkness.

"That's my girl." Ash whispered.

A few seconds passed when nothing happened, and then Entei emerged before them. His head seemed almost ghostly for a moment as it emerged from behind a pillar of rock and out of the darkness. Entei looked straight into Ashley's eyes with a piercing gaze. Ashley was too high on her ambition to even flinch.

"Ifrit, give him a slash attack to start it off with!" She shouted.

Ifrit dashed forward and brandished its claws at Entei, who was still only peeking out from behind the pillar. Entei only smoothly withdrew behind the pillar and Ifrit followed. Ashley ran after the both of them.

"Hey wait up!" Ashton shouted and then followed as well. At this point Ash and Misty decided that they too needed to follow, as being separated in caves like these could be deadly.

Entei moved swiftly and yet deliberately as he eluded Ifrit's attacks. He fluidly weaved in among the stalagmites in a uniformly backwards direction, leading his procession of pursuers along the cavern. Frustrated by the dark and its inability to strike Entei, Ifrit unleashed a gigantic ball of fire, one that flowed through the caverns ahead like water and illuminated every crack and crevice. Being a fire Pokemon as well, Entei was hardly effected as the flames washed over him. He just continued to lead them all deeper and deeper into the caverns.

Reaching what appeared to be the end of the room, Entei pushed himself through a particularly small and tight opening, disappearing into the darkness beyond. Ifrit clambered through after, and Ashley followed. But when Ashley entered the next room, there was absolutely no trace of Entei left, it was as if he had dematerialized. Ifrit roared in frustration, it hated it when foes ran away. Ashley would have been angrier except that her mind was too busy trying to figure out where Entei had gone. She could also sense something in this room, something in the atmosphere. It was strange, a foggy feeling in her mind that reeked of a malevolent purpose. Then she felt a spike of energy in the air, and a horrific hissing voice suddenly laughed a few feet to her left.

"So, you must be Ashley, come here to have a bit of fun eh?" The voice laughed.

Ashley whipped her flashlight beam around and gasped when it lit up the tall ghastly form of one of Ares' Blood Acolytes standing a few feet away from her.

"No! Go away!" She found herself shrieking.

"What's going on?" Ash's voice rang out back in the first room.

"Come now, you're going to be late for the party!" The Acolyte said and began walking steadily toward her.

"Ifrit, I want him well done!" Ashley suddenly shouted.

Ifrit turned to the Acolyte, took a deep breath, and unleashed as much flame as it possibly could at it. The Acolyte simply raised his arm and a psychic shield formed and deflected the beam of flame.

"Now now now, can't you see I'm extending you an invitation from Lord Ares? He would be most displeased if you didn't join him." The Acolyte said

"I'm coming in there!" Ash shouted and emerged from the opening to the other room.

"Ah, enter the bumbling father." The Acolyte quipped, looking Ash over casually.

"R-red…Mewtwo?" Ash stuttered.

"You could call me that." The Acolyte said, "But I prefer the sound of 'Agryn'. It's not my official designation, but I like the way it strangles the tongue which tries to pronounce it." Agryn grinned as he said this, a grin that would send smaller children screaming for their mothers.

"Stay away from my daughter!" Ash bellowed.

"If you remember Mewtwo, then surely you must remember his psychic powers do you not? I think that if you did, you would not threaten me as such." Agryn said, almost chuckling.

"I do remember." Ash said, suddenly smiling deviously. "But the world has changed since his time!"

Ash suddenly produced a golden Poke ball and slung it at Agryn with the force of a professional baseball pitcher. Before Agryn could react it struck him squarely in the face and opened. Red light engulfed Agryn and he disappeared as the Poke ball worked its technological magic on him. It snapped shut and fell to the ground. Both Ash and Ashley held their breaths as it sat there on the ground and wobbled gently. It shook and shook, and then started shaking more violently. Sweat beaded on Ashley's forehead. It vibrated, rattled, and began to emit smoke. Little sparks of electricity suddenly jumped from its seams and joints.

"Just for the record dad, what kind of ball is it, and where'd you get it?" Ashley asked, still watching it struggle madly on the ground.

"It's called the Supreme Ball, I got it as a gift from the Neo Silph Co. CEO." Ash said tensely. "He said that it's like a Master Ball, only with four times the retaining strength. I never thought I'd need it until now."

"I don't think its working…" Ashley said as it begin jumping up and down on the floor, emitting more smoke and sparks.

"Just watch." Ash said.

Moments passed and the ball stopped moving, but its danger light still remained on. Then suddenly, it began to glow. Faintly at first, and then it intensified. When it got to a certain point, it finally destabilized and exploded, releasing a torrent of energy and light that reformed into Agryn.

Agryn emerged panting, his body covered in burn marks. He grimaced madly at them. "That's it! No more games!You are coming with me NOW!" He screamed. He swung his hand at Ashley and she felt a wave of energy gush through her system, paralyzing her instantaneously. She and Ash fell to the ground flat as planks.

"You guys?" Ashton asked, peeking through the passageway.

Agryn waved his hand at him too, and little Ashton fell flat as well right in the middle of the transition between rooms.

"No! You'll not take him!" Misty howled from the other side. Agryn waved angrily at her too, and now the whole family lay immobile on the floor.

"Now then, there won't be further ado! There's a torture chamber up in Ares' flagship that has you all's names on it!" Agryn shouted.

Ashley suddenly felt her gut shift and the world swam past her eyes. As it reformed, she saw the red painted steel walls of the inside of one of Ares' ships. She saw the faces of five Acolytes look down at her.

"Time for some fun!" One of them cackled.

"I can't wait to taste this one's blood!" Another said, poking Ashton.

Ashley felt the gems in her hand, she had instinctively picked them up before chasing after Entei, which she was now convinced was only an illusion concocted by Agryn. Her paralyzed fist gripped the gems tightly and she called out quietly with her mind.

"Tanis…help me!"

The Acolytes continued prodding them and laughing until it got boring for them when they left. Ashley felt lucky that they had not heard her silent plead. Then suddenly, a faint reply echoed back into Ashley's mind.

"I'll rescue you." Tanis' psychic voice echoed quietly, "I promise."

**Chapter XXXIX – T10**

At that moment, Tanis didn't realize just how much like his father he was. He was making quick work of black-clad men and Blood Acolytes alike, and the air reeked of the stench of burnt death. The Acolytes raised psychic shields and tried to defend with their own swords, but Tanis' rage, along with his piece of the Triforce, were driving him to ever higher energy states. He burst their shields and cut right through their swords. They charged steadily at him, a seemingly endless supply flooding the ship's corridors. Their blood flowed just as freely, blending in with the crimson painted steel of the hallway's walls.

It couldn't last long however, there weren't enough foes for Tanis to kill and he was draining his own energy quickly without realizing it in his out of control state. Suddenly the Acolytes stopped coming and he was left alone with the piles of the dead at his feet. He panted heavily and the emotions started to clear from his mind. He stood over his kills, feeling the blood soak his feet. He stared at them as his rationality returned and suddenly heard a footstep behind him. He turned to see one lone Acolyte standing there, a malevolent grin on its face.

"Your mind is so easy to read when you're in a rage like that." It snickered at him.

Tanis scowled and reformed his swords. He was about to charge the Acolyte when it spoke again.

"I've found your weakness, a human girl named Ashley. I think it would be nice if I could meet her…"

"Don't you dare go near her!" Tanis shouted.

"Watch me, and try to stop me!" the Acolyte responded and then suddenly teleported out.

Tanis tried to teleport after it, but he was blocked by the inherent energy of the ship somehow. He reappeared right next to the outermost hull, wondering why they had even let him in in the first place if teleportation could be blocked. He formed a sword in his hands and was about to cut a hole through the hull when a voice echoed through his mind.

"Soon we will meet face to face my brother, and then all shall be settled." The deeply sinister voice said.

"Come and face me now!" Tanis replied angrily. The voice only laughed back at him.

Tanis turned around and began running through the halls. He dashed right past Acolytes and their men, but for some odd reason none of them followed him. He ran straight to the bridge hoping to find Ares, but only a group of Acolytes were there to greet him. Again using a larger amount of his power he dispatched them without a lot of effort and found himself alone on the bridge. The control holograms blinked and wavered at him mockingly.

"Coward! Why won't you show yourself!" Tanis roared, but no-one answered him. The bridge remained silent as he stood and boiled with rage.

Another voice suddenly pierced the void, it was that of Ashley. "Tanis…help me!" She cried.

Tanis felt a whole new determination well up from inside him. "I'll rescue you, I promise." He replied, and then locked his mind on the direction where it had come from.

Tanis put as much power as he could into one jolting teleportation only to find that the barrier that had held him inside the ship had disappeared. He disappeared and reappeared freely inside another ship, and he could sense Ashley's presence only a few feet away down one hallway. He sprinted down the hall as fast as he could, turned a corner, and came into a room to see Ashley and her family restrained by energy cuffs and hanging limply from the wall. He dashed across the room towards them only to be interrupted in mid step by the same voice.

"Well, the fly falls right into the web as predicted." The voice laughed, and suddenly a door in the wall swished open and the voice's owner stepped forth.

It was the first time Tanis had ever seen Ares, and it came as a slight shock to him. Ares looked just like him, except his skin was deep crimson, his horns were spiraled upward and pointed, and the symbol on his forehead was that of a spiked circle. His eyes were just as purple as Mewtwo's had been. Ares walked right up to Tanis and scrutinized him in turn. He suddenly stuck out his red paw to Tanis as if he wanted him to shake it.

"Well met my brother! You've more than demonstrated your power to me over the last few days."

Tanis refused to grasp Ares' hand, he rather shrank back from it in disgust. Ares just pulled it back and continued smiling maliciously.

"It seems you have some temper problems my friend, no matter. What I'm about to show you could very well make it much worse. Observe!" Ares shouted and clapped his hands together.

From the same door that Ares had entered came two more people, the first a young man with short, spiky, sandy hair wearing battle armor, the other a woman Tanis recognized as being a Gerudo from his father's messages. They were both staring blankly onward and moving jerkily like robots. They lined up and stood before him as if presenting themselves.

"Tanis, I'd like you to meet Isaac and Kalana! They are my trophies of worlds already conquered, and soon your Ashley will join them!" Ares laughed.

"Do you think I'd let you?" Tanis bellowed.

"It's not like you have a choice here." Ares said, and suddenly brandished his right paw as if to show something. "Watch carefully!" He snickered.

Suddenly a glowing golden triangle came into view on Ares' paw, one that Tanis recognized with horror as being one of the pieces of the Triforce. It glinted menacingly at him.

"I got it from Isaac here, the Triforce of Power had chosen him to be its new keeper, and it was easy to obtain it once I had defeated him and controlled his mind! Now I'm going to take your piece from you and add it to my collection!" Ares cackled.

"You're such an unoriginal villain!" Tanis suddenly said in a mocking tone. Surprise splashed across Ares' face.

"What do you mean by that?" Ares growled

Tanis halfheartedly chuckled. "You're not the only one to try that foolish scheme! I remember it clearly from my father's memories, Ganondorf tried the same thing and he died by Mewtwo's hands!"

"Not only that," Ashley sputtered, looking up from her shackles, "But your attitude is just like any other villain character I've seen in cheesy shows on my holo-TV. You've got it all, greed, arrogance, power-lust, blood-lust, and an inferiority complex the size of both Kanto and Johto combined! What makes you so special?"

Ares' blood was boiling and a deadly look was glowing in his eyes, but Tanis continued his tirade nonetheless. "If you weren't such a coward at heart, you would fight me without aid from the Acolytes. We're evenly matched, we both have a piece of the Triforce and we were both engineered with even more power by our creators. Why don't you face me in a one on one match?" Tanis asked.

Ares was grinding his teeth with rage. "Normally I would, but I have better things to do that quibble with you and your human friend! You don't even comprehend the true reason why I want the Triforce do you?"

"It's plain as day, you want more power!" Tanis replied condescendingly.

"That's part of it, there's another reason that neither of you know of yet! And if you want to know, observe what's behind door number two!" Ares shouted and pointed at another panel sliding open in the wall.

Behind the panel was a gigantic machine with a great glass tank, a machine resembling the cloning devices that had spawned the thousands of Acolytes. But something was different, there were a number of distinct slots on the front, and one of them was Triforce shaped.

"What in heaven's name is that?" Tanis asked.

"This…is the resurrector! It is the fruit of all the technology I've either developed or stolen from humans during my stay here on Earth. I bet you're smart enough to figure out what it does by the name, but how it does it is another matter. You see, my men have been harassing you for a reason. When Mewtwo died, he left behind nine gems of power. These gems were the physical embodiments of his power left over after death in elemental form. He left one for fire, water, wind, earth, spirit, forest, shadow, light, and one more. Do you know what the last one was? It was purple and is called 'Mewtwo's Amethyst. It contains the essence of his very soul, created at the exact moment of his death. Together these gems represent each side of him, allowing anyone who wishes to make a complete copy of his physical and spiritual being should they want. But those aren't the only pieces to this puzzle. There was one more artifact he left behind at his death, the Time Medallion. This Medallion contains the entire history of the land of Hyrule, and all of Mewtwo's memories. Taken together with the gems, it would allow a complete copy to be made, mind, body and spirit. All that is lacking is the power to do it. Though together my Acolytes and I are powerful beyond any imagination, we still cannot grant life. That is where the Triforce fits in to complete the puzzle." Ares finished.

Tanis was frankly stunned. He regained some meager semblance of composure and spoke. "But why? What for? If you have that Medallion then surely you've read all his memories. What other purpose would it serve to bring him back to life?"

"Don't you see the possibilities my friend?" Ares asked. "There's one trait I've always admired about some humans, they love to play God. It's for this very reason that Mewtwo was first created and that we even exist! The God-play continued when Mewtwo created you and Team Rocket created me, and now I plan to further it by improving our species even more!"

"What are you going to do?" Tanis asked.

"Well, I told you that each gem contains an elemental aspect of Mewtwo's physical being." Ares said, and walked over to his machine. He produced a purple gem that was undoubtedly Mewtwo's Amethyst and plugged it into one slot. "Now I'm missing most of the gems, so I'll need you to use your imagination. Pretend that I have all of them inserted here now. What do you think would happen if I were to remove one and run the machine? Let's say I remove the Light gem, what do we get?"

Tanis gasped, he remembered the images of Darkest quite well. "You idiot! Darkest would destroy you and take your empire for himself!"

"Of course he would, if he got the chance." Ares said, and pressed a button on the panel of the machine. A set of glowing red body armor rose up from inside the machine into the cloning tube. "This is the neural inhibitor suit, complete body coverage to ensure not a drop of energy can be even grasped by its wearer. I plan to grow myself a copy of Darkest, right into the armor!"

"And what good would that do you? Reducing him to physical strength only would render him only a little more dangerous than a human martial artist. He would be worthless to you! And if you were ever to let him use his powers once, he would turn and strike you dead in an instant!" Tanis exclaimed.

"I don't ever plan to let him free of the tube or to even become conscious. He'll be suspended in stasis for me to feed off of his life and psychic energy for as long as I please!"

"You're more of a fool than I thought! You've seen what he's capable of through the Medallion! An entity like him is too dangerous to even allow to exist!" Tanis said, a look of worry on his face. Then that look transformed into a smile. "You only have one of the nine gems anyway! Even if you manage to take my piece of the Triforce, you're still one piece short! Neither of us know where they have gone to!"

"Oh, but I do! The Medallion recorded every moment of your father's life, including the exact place where he hid the last few gems."

"But the Triforce split long after his death. You don't know where the last piece is!" Tanis said.

"True, but even you should know the way the pieces instinctively seek each other out. It may take me months to track it down, but I will eventually! Now, I tire of talk and I have much work to do." Ares said, and lunged at Tanis head on.

In an instant their energy swords met and a burst of wind whipped around the room. The swordplay was stunted and Ares kept Tanis totally on the defensive. Tanis was inexperienced compared to Ares. In a few short moments Ares had Tanis pinned against the wall. Ares formed a second sword and with one blindingly fast stroke swept past Tanis' defenses and cleanly chopped off his right hand. Tanis let out a cry of pain and fell to his knees, his sword disappeared and blood gushed from the stump where his hand had been.

"Too easy! Whatever happened to 'We're evenly matched'?" Ares asked and laughed sadistically, holding Tanis' hand up as the blood drained from it.

Tanis tried to grasp enough energy to reform a new hand, but he found himself to be completely tapped. He hadn't known how dependant he had become on the Triforce's power. Ares burned Tanis' hand suddenly in a ball of red flames, and what remained was the glowing triangle of the Triforce of Courage.

"Mine! All mine!" Ares laughed.

The Triforce of Courage lifted out of Ares' hands and hovered in front of his face for a moment. It then suddenly rocketed forward and struck Ares in the head just above his forehead emblem. Ares jerked rigid as it merged with his body, all of him glowing red and now green. The glow stopped and he suddenly fell over unconscious. At the exact same time every Acolyte also collapsed, and all the black-clad humans under their control suddenly twitched. They suddenly began wandering out of line, some of them suddenly screamed and fled the room.

"What a stupid weakness!" Ashley said from her imprisonment on the wall. "If Ares goes unconscious, so do the Acolytes, and all his human slaves regain the minds! It seems unpractical, the only reason to sustain such a massively large psychic control network would be to ensure that Ares saw everything his minions saw."

Tanis was now reeling from the physical shock of losing his arm, he was squeezing it as hard as he could to try and stop the blood loss. He staggered to his feet and shufflerd over to where Ashley was hanging from the wall. There was a small flashing panel right near where the glowing manacles held her, and Tanis pressed a few buttons. The restraints faded away and Ashley fell to her feet.

"Quickly, we don't know how long he'll stay out!" Ashley said. "We've got to kill Ares while we have the chance!"

"I'm spent." Tanis tried to say, but his psychic power was completely gone. He was forced to utter the words physically, a feat that he found extremely difficult even as the computer had trained him to do when he was a child.

"I have a knife on my Trainer's belt." Ash suddenly said, lifting his head.

"Dad, are you okay?" Ashley asked.

"No time…take it and kill that abomination." Ash sputtered.

Tanis fell to his knees again and tried to summon up his powers as Ashley ran over to Ash and pulled his knife out of its sheath. She then ran over to where Ares laid and lifted the blade into the air. She was about to bring it down on Ares' head when the knife dropped from her hands and she gasped and emitted a choking sound. She fell over and Tanis looked to see one of the Acolytes had gotten up and had stopped her with its power.

"Ah ah ah, what a naughty young woman!" The Acolyte said in Ares' voice.

"How is this possible?" Tanis asked bewilderedly.

"Do you think I would create a system with such a weakness Tanis? If I were ever to become unconscious, I can transfer myself temporarily to the body of one of my Acolytes until I am recovered!"

Suddenly all the black-clad men froze in their tracks and stepped neatly back in line, and the rest of the Acolytes began to arise. They all lined up behind the one that now held Ares' mind.

"It should take at least a week for my body to acclaim to this new power, and much more time to locate the last piece of the Triforce. Since I love irony, I wish for you to be there when my machine completes it's purpose and I gain the ultimate power. But until then, I have prepared some accommodations for you and your friends!" Ares raised his hands and in a few moments, a group of black-clad men carried in six identical metal pods and placed them on the floor. "You'll be held in stasis until I'm ready to make my show for you!"

Tanis summoned the strength to stand in defiance. "You'll have to force me into one of those things!" He sputtered with his small mouth.

"Oh, you've learned to speak like the humans? How sad that you would ever need to use a skill as worthless as that! Now, say nighty night my brother!"

In an instant the horde of Acolytes overwhelmed Tanis with their power, paralyzed him, and stuffed him into the cryo-tube. As the door closed over his stiff body, he say Ashley being put into the same casket-like tube. Then his own tube clicked shut and he felt a biting cold seeping in. His body still would not respond, and part of him wondered if part of the cold that was creeping on him was being caused by the shock of his injury and his loss of blood. The tube suddenly hissed around him and the next breath he took silenced his thoughts and put him into a deep, dreamless sleep.

**Conclusion of Part 1**

Ares' ships rendezvoused above the mountainous regions of Johto and prepared to ascend and enter space, where they would activate their dimensional drives and leave in pursuit of the Triforce. Ares' flagship hovered in the center of the formation as more ships arrived after having finished off many major cities of Earth. It was at the exact same moment that Tanis lost his consciousness that the last human assault began.

Just as Ares was about to have his men carry the tubes to the ship's cargo hold, a missile struck them and blasted a breach in the wall near them. Prioritizing, the Acolytes dropped the pods and grabbed the resurrection machine and the limp body of their master to carry into the ship's central bridge. In a careless rush, Ares and his Acolytes forgot the pods and as the ship ascended, they tumbled out of the hole in the hull and down toward the mountains below.

Ares' fleet didn't even bother to stay and destroy the scattered human ships that had come in this last ditch assault, they simply left the atmosphere and disappeared without a trace. Below, the stasis pods landed in the waters of a lake deep within the mountains, where they sank and came to rest on the bottom.

**To be Continued in Part II: Resurrection**

A/N: Hmmm, what will happen now eh? The only thing I will say is that there will be another massive discontinuity within the timeline. Expect the first chunk of Part II in a couple of weeks, in the mean time I encourage you to please review! See you next Part!


	13. Part II: Resurrection: Prologue

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Well, my Internal Assessments have had me dancing a jig of schoolwork lately. I blame them mainly for making this next part so late. And it's only a prologue too! I hope you guys will forgive me, but school just has to take a higher priority. As I finish up my assessments expect my rate of writing to come back up again. Until then, enjoy this little snippet of a prologue that is from a very different point of view!

**_Part II - Resurrection_**

**Prologue: Benca**

Entry #43543

Pondering the vast opportunities that lay ahead of me, I find myself ruminating on the future. All that I see can and will become mine, the power is almost within my grasp. After nearly forty years of infuriating search I have nearly pinned down the one who has eluded me, the one who has kept me from accomplishing my goal for such an incredibly long time. When I find them, there will be hell to pay, and I will enjoy myself greatly.

Then comes the great resurrection, and afterward my rise to power. But what then? With two worlds already in ruins at my feet, where will I go? What will I do? Will I extend the Black Vortex to yet another realm and take what I see? Or should I set about to explore the universes I already inhabit? Space is such a vast, unconquerable realm. I would not hope to even scratch its surface within just one realm, let alone three. With all this power afforded to me, I can now look into the future, and I all I see is emptiness, meaninglessness, and pointlessness. The more I see, the more it makes me wonder about my own kind and my true nature.

Mewtwo once had these same thoughts as well, right out of his birthing tube. From the moment he struck Giovanni down he took his own path however, a path that eventually led him to greatness. Here I am already set toward the same destiny, only by a different route. He used heroism and fought for the innocent in his time, and I seek to force obedience on all who oppose. Why is it that I foresee so much emptiness in my future when every possible happiness is assured?

At the same time I ask myself this I already find an answer forming in my mind. I have watched it again and again from the Time amulet, Mewtwo befriending a tribe of Gerudos and becoming comrades with them. The answer was right there all along, and yet I have not seen it until now. He had friends, those who he considered his emotional and intellectual equals. Whenever he was with them he was happy… perhaps it is the lack of this happiness I have forseen in my own future?

But it cannot be the answer! For when his friends ever perished it caused him a great deal of emotional harm! Clearly, one who is destined to control the fate of universes like myself cannot be allowed to have such a fundamental weakness! My whole empire could collapse due to some rash, idiotic decisions made in a crucible of anger or sorrow!

And yet, when I loom forward again I see myself upon my throne, bored by the delights of a thousands worlds as they all pass by in turn. Oh what lament! To live as a wise, isolated lord, or to risk it all for a richer life? The stakes are truly high, many things can happen to one who holds so many strings of fate in their hands. Strong emotions…they were Mewtwo's greatest weakness, and at times his greatest strength. Yet what good are they to me, who have much more to think about in my life than the lives of a rogue band of thieves living on a desert or a kingdom of savages living in stone dwellings? Again this leads me to wonder if less is indeed more as the humans once said.

No! I will not let my petty emotions rob me of a life of pleasure! The answer must be somewhere, I am just blind to it. Perhaps I should look again within the Time Medallion tonight. Even if it solves nothing, it will keep my idle mind away from such destructive thoughts as I am having now.

Entry #43544

I have been such a fool! Yet another answer has come to me from the Medallion. I should have learned by now what wisdom can be gleaned from Mewtwo's life. Though he fought for a fundamentally opposite idea than the one I hold, his emotions and mine are strikingly similar. I must remind myself to consult the Medallion more often when in the cold, slimy grip of self doubt.

It was a portion of Mewtwo's memories I had neglected, the last 50 years of his life. I had always watched his memories of the great wars between Darkest and Lightest, not taking the time to watch him help lost children in the woods after his glory days were over. The answer to my problems lies within the concept of my old rival, Tanis.

Mewtwo created Tanis in order to carry on the legacy of our species. Being the only of his kind, Mewtwo could think of no other way besides cloning, the method he still despised even to his death. But continuation was not his only motivation I see now, Tanis meant more to him than just another guardian of justice for the years ahead. He genuinely hoped that he could have finished Tanis before dying, so he could at least have a friend who was his equal on all levels. Sure, he still had Ruru and Kalana if he wanted to travel back to Hyrule via dimension door, but they were different to him now. They were not the ones he had known while living on the Vile Desert before meeting Darkest for the first time. Hyrule now has never known Darkest's touch, and the people are much more content, lazy, and unlikable even to him.

Another of the species it seemed, would finally be the true friend Mewtwo needed. Equal on mental, physical and psychic levels, he would raise Tanis just like a human father would raise his son. Frankly, he was naive to think he could pull it off when he started so late in his life.

So how does this relate to me? Perhaps…just perhaps, this kind of equal is what I need to fill in the void as well. I have seen it now, I have looked into the future and tried to imagine what it would be like if I had a daughter or son at my side as I conquered worlds. I could not see it clearly, it has not yet become inevitable as a future event. But, I could definitely not sense the gaping emotional hole that was filling my future life in my other readings. Obviously, this is the first part of the answer to my problems.

But that still leaves the major problem of emotional attachments in context to loss. What if I were to lose this son or daughter? Wouldn't it be a horrific blow to me emotionally? One that could potentially cause the collapse of my rule? The solution is obvious now, being of the same race as me, my son or daughter would have psychic powers equal to or greater than my own. Collective energy pools between the Acolytes, him myself and I could create a protective barrier against any threat, even old age itself. And should the impossible occur and he dies, I would retain his brain function and clone him a new body. When a power this great is at my fingertips, solutions come much easier than they do to mere mortals, as I may now call them!

I must get started right away, it took Mewtwo almost forty years to develop Tanis' DNA, and another 21 years for maturation. Though I may now have many lifetimes upon my hands, I still feel impatient. Perhaps now I will taste what happiness those humans once flaunted as their great strength; brotherhood?

Entry #44678

Oh disaster! What horrific fate conspires against me on a day such as this? Today, it is one week until my daughter is ready to be freed from her tube and now a rogue band of humans have attacked my lab! I have not the slightest clue as to how they gathered the technology and number strength to attack so without my detecting of them! They commanded a flotilla of light assault ships that destroyed patrols over my lab and then began bombarding it to rubble! In my haste to escape death I left my daughter in her tube as I left to gather the fleet.

It did not take long to destroy the comparatively small human fleet, but by the time my full forces arrived my lab was pummeled to the ground! My daughter is surely lost, I can no longer sense her thoughts or life pulse! Search is futile, the entire region is flattened. All my effort, years of engineering her to be perfect, all lost.

My revenge upon them will be swift and merciless, I have already trained numerous satellites upon their underground bas, which I obtained from one of the prisoners. I could turn their whole civilization to ash from orbit, but I plan on taking a much sweeter, painful vengeance than that. I will go there personally and kill them all, I will not stop until the blood of each and every one of them is cooling upon my hands!

A/N: Well, what did you think of that little peek into Ares' mind? He's not as shallow of a villain as you thought is he? I was getting a little tired of characters as two-dimensional as Darkest, so I had to have a little reason nibbling on Ares' mind as he stood poised on domination. Once again, all honest reviews are appreciated, whether flattering or not. Your opinions matter to me, so make them heard no matter what they are!


	14. Part II: Resurrection Chunk 1

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Well, not much I can say, except writer's block sucks major arse. The main reason this chunk has been in the making for so long is due to two factors: School is kicking my ass, and writer's block is shooting me while I'm down. This chunk is only average sized as well, I couldn't concoct anything longer than the usual 10 pages to make up for being gone so long. Ah well, I hope everyone enjoys this next chunk, because we'll be seeing more of Ares' daughter this chunk! Ooh, excitement!

**_Part II - Resurrection_**

**Chapter 1 - T11**

Though Tanis's body laid dormant in the stasis pod, his mind did not. As he slept for years at the bottom of the lake his mind returned once more to the same void that he had known many years before. Empty, blinding darkness where he could not even see his own hand less than an inch from his face. He had been here only once before, when the computer that sustained his neural link powered down during his growth in the tube. His father had designed the computer to keep him inside a world of learning and positivity, but somehow the system had failed and he had been plunged into the inky murk of nothingness. That particular void had not let him go until the girl Ashley had found him and set him free. Now that he was trapped inside a stasis tube and to his knowledge in the hands of Ares, he had no idea when he would be freed.

Minutes felt like hours and days felt like years to Tanis as he paced about the inner confines of his own mind. It was all he could do to keep from going insane. He replayed his own memories to himself. Each time he saw Ares' victory, he could practically hear that mocking laughter echo endlessly through the void. It was painful each time he watched it, but without it the blinding darkness and deafening silence would eat away at his soul. Strange he thought, some humans greatly desired this kind of peace and tranquility. He now thought them fools who could not tell heaven from hell. And above all his other emotions, Tanis wished that he was with Ashley.

Ashley had turned from his first acquaintance into his best friend in this world, and he thought that this imprisonment would not even be half as bad if he could just talk to her. At several occasions he tried to reach out to her, to punch a hole through the veil with his mind and make contact with hers. But instead of forcing him back into recession, the darkness used its own infinity against Tanis. Tanis' thoughts echoed farther and farther into eternity, swallowed up by nothingness as if his attempts were nothing. Still he remained interred in his lonely sarcophagus for what felt to him to be eternity.

Perhaps he was dead? He wondered if this was the fate of all souls, to wander perpetually in a ravenous nothingness. He contemplated this more than he was comfortable with, but ended up rejecting the theory in the end. He was sure that if he was dead, there would be some form of judgment of his valor and actions before any punishment like this was dealt out. That and unless she was still alive, he expected to have met Ashley here as well. It became irrelevant as more years passed by, he came to crave death even if it meant the end of his consciousness. Anything to stop the eternal cold loneliness that now held him in its icy grip.

Tanis didn't know it, but almost forty years passed as he laid ageless in the capsule at the bottom of the lake. His body, and those of Ashley and her family did not age a day in their stasis. The events of the outside world passed them by, forgotten by all but one as they slept. Their stasis chambers had enough power to run for another 160 years, but something was to happen one day to cut that short.

As Tanis laid brooding in his chamber, events were unfolding just a few miles south. Ares had built a lab at the foot of the mountains and was performing genetic research there. On the first day of Tanis' 40th year in the chamber, a vigilante group of human ships attacked this lab.

Few in numbers and using outdated weapons, the human ships were flies when compared to Ares' mighty fleet. But these humans had hidden away for many years in the mountains, developing their flotilla under Ares' nose without him knowing. When they attacked the lab, they caught Ares by complete surprise. He was able to flee the lab without being harmed, leaving the facility for the humans to bombard to rubble. Once his fleet gathered however, the humans did not stand a chance. They scattered and Ares' ships hunted them down one by one and destroyed them.

One particular ship in the rogue band of human vigilantes was much faster than all the rest. It flew due north in flight from three pursuing squadrons of interceptor fighters, keeping good distance from them at all times. As it approached a particularly high range of mountains, they caught up with it and shot its engines out. Clearing the mountain range, the pilot of the ship saw the lake below and decided it was the best place for an emergency landing. He guided his fatally wounded vessel down towards the waters below. As he neared the lake's surface the fightercraft descended upon him and fired once more. The ship was rent into quarters by the ensuing fireball, and the pieces fell ignobly into the dark murky waters below. The portion of the ship that contained its main engine sank to the bottom quickly, coming to rest not far from where Tanis and friends laid dormant in their pods. The engines then gave way to one last explosion as they hit the bottom, sending a shockwave through the waters that jolted the attached power mechanisms free from Tanis and Ashley's pods.

Being independently operated by online monitoring computers, the pods sensed that they were going to lose main power and initialized revival procedures. There would only be enough back up power to bring their occupants back to a waking state before total shutdown.

The shockwave did not strike the pods of the rest of Ashley's family at the correct angle, and so they remained operating normally and they remained peacefully asleep. Back in Tanis' mind however, he was suddenly jolted and became aware that something was happening.

In his pod, Tanis could feel the shockwave crash through him. It was like getting punched in the stomach by a professional body builder. He then sensed something change, the void shifted perceptibly around him. He heard the first sound in what felt like an eternity, a clicking and then a beeping. A few minutes later, the void dissolved entirely. As he opened his eyes he saw there was still darkness around him, but not an endless, seamless and shapeless darkness like he had come from. His eyes, attuned to the dark now, saw the seams of the pod around him. He suddenly felt his stiff muscles scream to life in cramps, and pain rocketed up from the stump where his right hand used to be, and knew he was indeed returning to life as he had known it.

Regaining total control of himself, Tanis felt the air inside the pod to be extremely stale. As his breathing returned he realized that he was about to suffocate, there would only be enough air for a few minutes. He began to push on the door of the pod in front of him with his left shoulder, avoiding use of his half healed right stump. There was some sort of tremendous pressure on the other side of the pod door, like a great mass of water was pushing on it. He got quick confirmation of this when it opened a crack and water hissed through. He let it snap shut almost immediately.

"What now?" He thought to himself. "Free for the first time in god knows how long and already I'm trapped in a new way."

Tanis felt he didn't have long to lament his current situation, the issue of air was now pressing in on him much harder. Soon it would become unbreathable and he would asphyxiate. He knew that at this point that he could form a psychic bubble around what little air was left, but unless the water was relatively shallow this air would run out anyway. He cursed the fact that his father had not taught him how to psychically recycle oxygen like he had done when traveling through space.

Tanis decided to try anyway, he had once told Ashley that it was better to die in an attempt to survive than to just sit and let death come. He formed a psychic bubble around himself and shoved the door open with his mind. Pushing through he saw the surface not too far above and pushed his power as far as it would go to speed up toward the fresh air. Friction against the water was stiff, and he held his breath against the foul air as he rose toward the glimmering surface.

Just as his lungs were screaming for air, Tanis burst through that glass-like sheen and into the open air. He gasped air, almost drinking it like a thirsty man just coming from the desert. Little stars danced in his vision and then faded as he breathed normally once more. He knew now that he no longer liked the idea of swimming for recreation.

Looking up at the sky briefly, Tanis saw an amazing sight. There among the white puffy clouds stood an amazing black streak in the sky. It was enormous; from his view it appeared to be miles wide and stretched from horizon to horizon. Just looking at it made waves of cold shivers travel up and down his spine. He couldn't help but wonder how long he had been sleeping, and what had happened to the world.

His thoughts were interrupted however, when he heard a faint, helpless voice cry out in his mind. He easily recognized it as Ashley, and it was coming from down at the bottom of the lake near where he had been.

Tanis formed a bubble around a large pocket of fresh air and dove back under the water. He sailed down into the depths until he found his old pod, lying open and already collecting detritus. Nearby was another pod, this one still closed. He could sense Ashley inside and knew she was suffocating like he had been.

Tanis quickly took the pod into his air bubble and wrenched it open. Ashley was there, still in her worn jeans with rats in her tangled black hair. She laid still for a moment and then suddenly gasped for breath. Tanis sighed in relief and pulled her from the pod. He let it fall out of the bubble and to the lakebed once more. He flew up through the water once more with Ashley in his arms.

"Looks like we're still alive eh?" Ashley said after they had reached the surface.

"Apparently so, but I don't know about the rest of the citizens of this world." Tanis said as they swam towards shore.

"What of my mom, dad and brother?" Ashley asked.

Tanis reached out with his mind and felt them at the bottom of the lake, still sleeping with adequate recycling air. Apparently their pods had not been damaged by whatever had damaged his and Ashley's.

"They're alright, they're at the bottom with plenty of air, still sleeping." Tanis said.

The two of them pulled themselves up onto the shore of the lake and Ashley took a look around her.

"This place looks familiar." She said.

Tanis then looked around as well, he saw a familiar little island in the center of the lake, and mountains surrounding them on all sides.

"Yes, I know this place," Tanis said, "It's Purity Canyon."

**Chapter II – A11**

Ashley had been fortunate enough to sleep completely through her imprisonment in her pod. For her, it felt like only minutes had passed since the Acolytes had forced her into the pod. The shockwave from the nearby explosion jolted her to partial consciousness, and as the pod powered down she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing that passed through her mind was the fright of meeting Darkest face to face, since Ares had said he would awaken him once he had completed the Triforce; and she had fallen asleep before the pod had fallen to the lake. Now she was sitting on the water's surface alongside Tanis, gazing transfixed at the monstrosity in the sky. Wreckage from the human craft bobbled in the water alongside them.

"What do you think it is?" Ashley asked, pointing up at the thick black stripe that curved through the heavens.

"I cannot say," Tanis replied, "But I can sense it is thick with energy. It radiates dimensional energy, almost like a beacon."

Tanis pulled his right arm out of the water, his hand was still missing from where Ares had cut it off to steal the Triforce. It had just barely scabbed over inside the tube before complete stasis had frozen his body functions entirely.

Ashley turned and saw Tanis glowing orange and concentrating on his injury. The scabs popped off and new bones appeared, followed by muscles, tendons, and then skin. He was again panting with pain and fatigue once his new hand had formed.

Suddenly Tanis jerked his head South, frowning worriedly. "They're coming, Ares' servants. They are looking for survivors from this crash, we need to hide quickly!"

The two of them swam to shore as fast as they possibly could, Tanis had reasoned that they did not want to use his powers and be detected. As they scrambled up onto the pristine sands of Purity Lake, a low droning intoned from somewhere in the South, and they desperately scrambled into the trees for cover. Feeling that they were well concealed inside the top of a particularly lush tree, Ashley barely poked her head above the foliage to watch.

Two of Ares' gunships appeared over the Southern rim of the crater and descended sluggishly down toward the lake's surface. They slowed to a stop above the floating wreckage and green scanner beams combed the water. The beams swept idly at first and then concentrated on just one area, as if they had found something. The gunships then moved toward the shore and landed right near where Ashley and Tanis had climbed out of the water.

Ashley's mind panicked, she convinced herself that they had been found out and the jig was up. Doors on the sides of the two gunships opened up and Acolytes stepped out. They weren't wearing the traditional red robes, but rather had cybernetic implants scattered across their bodies. There were seven of them in all, and they quickly turned toward the shore and began walking toward the water. Ashley found herself sighing in relief for a moment, and humorously pondering if their implants would short out if they got wet. Then she realized with horror that they must have detected her family's life-signs.

"They're after my family!" Ashley whispered to Tanis, who frantically gestured to her to be silent.

The Acolytes formed red bubbles around themselves and submerged, walking straight down as if they were tremendously massive. When the ripples disappeared from the surface, Tanis suddenly jumped down from the treetops.

"Now's our chance!" He said quietly with his physical mouth. "Let's hijack one of their ships!"

Ashley climbed down out of the tree and followed Tanis back down to the beach. They stumbled up to the red painted gunship, noticing that its traditional howitzer cannons had been replaced with some odd looking laser based weapons that Ashley couldn't identify. It made her wonder how long she had been entombed and how far technology had advanced. They hastily walked inside.

The inside of the gunship was incredibly cramped for a vessel of its size, it had a small cockpit and a troop cabin. There was a door at the back of the troop cabin that neither of them felt like investigating, they both went straight into the cockpit and sat down in the pilot and co-pilot chairs. Ashley felt quite awkward in the chair, it was built for someone with Mewtwo or Tanis' body structure and the hole for a tail in the back felt quite uncomfortable.

"Good, they left it on." Tanis observed. There was a slight pause before he spoke again, "Your station controls the weapons, mine controls navigation. Get ready, no doubt they will have sensed us and are on their way back up."

Ashley gripped the control sticks in her hand, yet again feeling out of place. The sticks had slots for only three knobby fingers, her human hands barely fit them. She had to twist her thumb to the side to reach the firing triggers. The ship suddenly jerked and rose as Tanis moved the controls. Ashley watched the main screen's forward view, and decided that it would be best to eliminate the second ship so it couldn't be used against them. When she moved the control sticks in her hand, an aiming reticule appeared on the screen and she aimed it at the other gunship, pressing the trigger. Four bright red laser beams pierced the ship in front of them, and flames belched forth from its innards. Ashley held the triggers and the lasers fired continuously, she used them to carve the other gunship up into tiny segments until it completely exploded in a gratifying orb of flames.

"Here they come!" Tanis shouted and jerked the controls left.

The main screen rotated around to the shoreline where the seven Acolytes were stepping out of the water. Ashley didn't need to be told, she fired on them straightaway. The four lasers cut right through the first Acolyte outright, slicing his head off. The others quickly pooled their psychic powers together to form a bright glowing shield. The lasers hit the shield and dispersed, spraying burning energy in all directions.

"Damn it!" Ashley growled, moving the beams across the shield and not accomplishing anything.

Ashley looked down at the glowing mini holo-panels around her, trying to find a quick solution, any solution. There were several more glowing red holographic buttons, and she tapped them with her fingers to see what would happen. The lasers suddenly flickered off, and a deep humming thrummed from several points on the gunship's hull. Outside the Blood Acolytes were gathering their energy into an especially large orb of psychic energy and preparing to launch it at the gunship. Ashley's targeting reticule flashed green and red, and she aimed it at them and clicked the firing triggers. Instead of lasers bursting forth, four large blinding blobs of plasma speared forward, cut straight through the psychic shield, and vaporized five more of the Acolytes instantaneously. It passed the survivors by and hit the sand a little farther beyond, exploding and melting the sand into glass.

"Sweet!" Ashley shouted, and tried to press the firing triggers again. Nothing happened.

"I think they need to recharge." Tanis observed, pointing to a slowly rising indicator on the side of the main screen.

The humming sound began to rise again around the ship as the plasma turrets warmed, but the last remaining Acolyte had gathered all the energy he needed. A six foot diameter ball of psychic energy had formed above him and he tossed it up at the gunship as hard as he could.

"Hang on, I'm going to see if these things can still accelerate as well as they used to!" Tanis exclaimed, and pulled hard on the controls.

The main screen whirled dizzyingly up to face the sky and Tanis jammed on the accelerator. They were shoved violently into their seats as the gunship streaked into the air near the speed of sound. The engines of the craft hummed loudly and a warning message splayed across the bottom of the main screen, indicating severe strain on the ship's power grid. Apparently it could not fly at max speed and charge its plasma turrets at the same time without danger of burning out its power core. Tanis decelerated them rapidly and made a wide turn. The psychic orb whizzed past them, missing by several feet, and the targeting reticule suddenly began flashing red and green again.

"Let's strafe that thing into oblivion!" Tanis said, and slammed on the accelerator again.

They dove back at Purity Canyon again at sickening speeds, the Earth screamed up at them. Ashley pointed the reticule at the Acolyte as soon as he was close enough to distinguish and fired. The sizzling plasma bolts leapt forward and found their marks, turning the Acolyte into a cloud of exploding sand and vapor. Tanis lowered the craft down to the beach, and they watched to make sure that there weren't any hidden survivors. Suddenly the panel in front of him beeped slightly.

"We're being queried by the fleet, and I don't know the correct response." Tanis said frantically.

"Uh, just type in that we need to continue searching the area more thoroughly!" Ashley said, the impromptu idea bursting forth.

Tanis tapped the controls, watching the readouts in front of him. "They want to know why combat has occurred, I told them that we ran into a few straggling human craft and eliminated them…" Tanis said, staring at the readout intently. "They're processing their response…They are curious as to why I am not connecting with them mentally, but they are accepting my response for now." Tanis sighed.

"Wow, Ares is getting pretty lax in his security." Ashley remarked.

"Indeed." Tanis agreed.

"Did they reach my parents?" Ashley asked suddenly.

"Not, we attracted their attention before they even got close." Tanis said.

"That's good….So what do we do now? We've got one of Ares' ships, we've passed ourselves off as Acolytes, and have free reign to fly anywhere on the Earth at supersonic speeds."

Tanis rubbed his chin. "We should stick around here for the moment so my searching excuse can hold water. After that, I'm not quite sure. We need to find out how long we were imprisoned exactly, what has happened while we were gone, what state of affairs things are in, etcetera." Tanis said. Ashley nodded.

Tanis suddenly turned his head slightly, as if noticing something. "Wait, I'm sensing something very strange to the south, I can feel a dormant psychic energy. It's extremely small, almost undetectable, possibly someone near death. If humans have been fighting against Ares here, perhaps it is a survivor in need of rescue." Tanis said.

"Sounds like a good first lead to me. If it's a human, we will rescue them and ask them to tell us what has been happening. If it's an acolyte, you can disable it and rob its mind for info." Ashley said.

"Very good, we'll leave in ten minutes." Tanis said.

**Chapter III – S1**

Radiant artificial sunlight streamed down through the tree branches as Shakara merrily danced about the fictitious playground. She laughed joyfully as the miniature plastic toy space ships danced around her at her mind's command. She floated through the air, dancing and throwing tiny orbs of psychic energy at them, melting them and causing them to fall to the simulated pavement below. Although this game was not as fun as others she had played, her father insisted that she played it instead of inventing friends. She never really bothered wondering about the world around her anymore, she had learned that this life she lived was going to be all about playing, for now.

Ares' familiar form emerged from the bushes and floated across the playground toward Shakara. She sensed him coming as soon as he had entered her imaginary world.

"Hey dad, look what I can do!" She shouted happily to him, and suddenly formed a rather large shadow ball and flung it at a hovering toy ship, which was reduced to plastic slag.

"You've mastered this game, I see. I've come to talk to you now about some very important things, so please listen carefully." Ares replied.

Shakara let go of all the remaining toy ships that her mind held and they clattered to the ground as if their pretend engines had failed. The sky above them suddenly darkened, clouds moved in and obscured the sun. A cool, almost biting breeze suddenly moved through the imaginary playground around them.

"What is it?" Shakara asked, looking fearfully up toward her father.

Shakara had good reason to be afraid of her father, he had gone off at her more than once in the past, especially the time when she created a human friend to play with. Though she loved him for the time he gave her, she always lived in anxiety of his rage. The chilling winds that flew through her imaginary playground reflected that fear as the sun walked across the sky to set.

"You remember, I told you a day would come when you would need to cast aside your amusement for awhile, and learn the ways of the warrior? Today you are fifteen and of age, so now it is time." Ares said solemnly.

The sky immediately darkened to night with Ares' words, and the chilling breeze whipped into a vicious wind that cut them both deeply with the cold. The leaves on the trees around them turned brown within seconds and began to fall, while beautiful flowers wilted and fell to the imaginary Earth.

"Father…I don't want to hurt people." Shakara said weakly, fearing retribution.

A glimmer of rage sparked through Ares' eyes at her words, but he did not erupt with anger. Though when he spoke next, his voice betrayed suppressed fury. "I've told you before why I created you, I wanted a partner to stand by my side at the head of worlds. You must be strong to be worthy! And to be strong requires sacrifices, especially of those below you!"

"I don't want to! I won't do it!" Shakara said, her fear replaced by anger and resentment.

That was all it took to push Ares over the edge. His eyes glowed a deadly red and Shakara's fantasy world shattered into thousands of pieces around them, revealing the void beyond.

"Stop this nonsense! I will not tolerate this behavior in you! You will learn to kill, and you will not have an ounce of enjoyment again until you do!" he bellowed at her.

A new reality replaced Shakara's whimsical playground, a war torn battlefield appeared around them and explosions rocked the crimson sky. Shakara tried to banish it with her mind, but Ares' will was much stronger than hers. Plasma bolts arced through the skies, and a human ship swooped down at them with its lasers glowing bright blue.

"Your training begins now!" Ares shouted, and then disappeared.

Shakara survived her training, passing it with more and more ease as her physical body matured inside her cloning tube. She loathed the simulations her father put her through, and she felt her love for him as a father slowly wither away as six more years of intense physical and mental preparation were completed. At the end of her training, her mind was sharply tuned to the world around her, she could use the blades growing from her body to cut a man down in less than a second. Her psychic powers grew beyond that of even her father, though she could still not puncture the voids keeping her in stasis with them. Finally, as the training came to a close, her father suddenly stopped contacting her completely.

Shakara was appalled at Ares' nerve, he had forced her to live through six years of hellish conditioning so she could be his perfect little toy, and now he had the gall to not even face her anymore. She wondered if he feared her new abilities, she had more than once come close to tapping into her sustaining computer with her mind. On one particularly fateful day, she found herself drifting in her own imaginary world contemplating trying it again.

Shakara no longer spent her time in a playground when she had the time, she floated idly above a field of black roses as they swayed in the breeze. There was an eternal sunset in the distance, casting rays of orange and pink on the imaginary clouds. As the breeze pushed Shakara through the air, she reached out with her mind, looking for any hole in the mental void beyond her dream world. She probed the darkness beyond for almost an hour before catching hold of something. A flickering of numeric code blinked in the distance, and she honed in on it with her mind. She was able to lock onto and pry into the world beyond with it, and found herself looking into the mind of the computers than ran the lab that sustained her. She immediately sifted through files in an attempt to gain control of the system, but a curious little database caught her eye. It was her father's journal.

Curious as to how her father's mind works, she opened an entry and read it, translating the raw data into words through her mind's ability.

Entry 5634

It tears my heart apart to have to do these things to Shakara, she means more to me than I can admit to myself. I come to realize more and more that it is as I have feared, I am becoming emotionally attached to her and am losing sight of the bigger picture. It is necessary that she help me with my conquests and be able to defend herself from threats, but whenever I force her to train against her will it is like a little knife twisting more and more in my heart. She is totally miserable now, but there's nothing I can do about it. I do hope she can forgive me, I'm not sure if I can face her if she doesn't.

Shakara finished reading the entry with a new love for her father growing in her heart. She had never known this softer side of him very well, he had only showed it to her in her early childhood. It was easy to forget how much he had done for her during the six years of mental hell he had forced her through. These feelings mixed together inside her to form a wretched half love and half hatred, and she didn't notice as her imaginary world around her suddenly divided itself into two regions. One side of the hill still wept with black roses and a saddened sky, while the other side brightened and the flowers bloomed in a newly refreshed color.

A great jolt suddenly leapt into Shakara's mind through the psychic connection she had established between herself and the computer. She knew right away that it wasn't her father either, because she could now sense his coming even before he entered her world. It was something much more dangerous, she could suddenly no longer sense the computer anywhere, and her imaginary world dissolved into darkness around her. She suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of suffocation, and blacked out before she could try to break free.

A/N: Heh, well? Pretty cool, if I must say so myself. The earlier years of Shakara's life are critical to all the rest of her characterization, so I had to fine tune this to be just right. That's one of the reasons this chunk took so long, I probably re-wrote the Shakara chapter ten times before I was satisfied it would work. Next chunk we'll pick up the rest of the story where it was left off! Review, enjoy, and see you then! Hopefully it won't be another four months in the making.


	15. Part II: Resurrection Chunk 2

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Wow, I posted this chunk the night after finishing my bigass IB Math exam, how ironic! Consider this chunk a symbol of my victory over the oppressive exams of doom! Despite their efforts, those IB people still haven't managed to get me to stop writing completely, hehe. Anyway, here's a good 14-pager for you to enjoy. Now you get to see how the rest of the characters have fared during the 40-year time skip!

**_Part II - Resurrection_**

**Chapter IV – R11**

Ruru sat alone, listening to the mournful winds wail through the mouths of the cave above. The stone she sat on was ice cold and damp, and she shivered gently as the wind howled its eternal elegy through the passages above. The happy memories of her past danced through her head again as they had tended to do over the past many years. She could not help but wonder what had become of her homeland under Iresian control for so long, and what Ares had done with her sister Kalana.

A wave of restlessness washed over Ruru and she slowly stood, sighing heavily. She listlessly walked deeper into the cave that had become her home, rays of muted light shone down from holes in the stone above. She emerged into the main chamber of the cave, which was mostly round and big enough to accommodate 15 standing people. The water in the pond at the back of the chamber was totally still.

Ruru sat in front of the vast, half finished mural of Hyrule that she was working on. Every time she looked at it, the gorgeous scene struck a chord of longing and sadness in her, and she could hardly bring herself to continue working on it. The stunning panorama of Hyrule Field with the spires of the Castle rising in the distance had been beautifully depicted, but the Gerudo Valley and the Kokiri forest on either side had yet to be painted. Ruru sighed again, too caught up in her longing to pick up her brush once more.

There was a splashing in the pool and Ruru turned to see Onta's head sticking out of the water.

"Are you going to work on it some more?" Onta asked, his now middle-aged face dripping water.

"I can't let myself just sit with my sadness alone, and there is little else to do."

Ruru reached for her brush, but her hand was stopped by the sound of clattering footsteps coming down the cave passage toward them in the main chamber. Ruru drew her scimitar as the footsteps approached, but her suspicions were proven unfounded when she saw their ally and food provider Aquel enter the chamber. Aquel was a Dantunian Noble that they had met when fleeing the Iresians, and he had provided them with a place to hide and food to eat for many years. He was young and sprightly, 19 years of age, and had a youthful glimmer in his eyes. He was wearing a thick dark grey cloak.

"I've got food and news!" Aquel said eagerly, shedding his cloak and unslinging a knapsack full of food.

Ruru sheathed her scimitar and sat down near where Aquel was unwrapping their food. Her stomach complained loudly as she saw the wrappings come off of fresh fish, grilled Dantunian steak, and some assorted fresh fruits and veggies. Onta climbed out of his pool and joined them.

"What's the news?" Ruru asked, picking up a steak and biting into it.

"The Dantunian Council has secretly decided upon a plan of insurrection against the Iresians." Aquel said excitedly, sitting down on top of his cloak.

"I figured the news would be big if it could make you come to us during one of these hellish dust storms." Onta said, picking up a fish.

"The cloak helps!" Aquel said, patting it where it lay. "Now let me twll you what happened."

"As you know, the problem of Ares' magical abilities has been at the center of our debate. Though the Iresians under his control are easy enough to kill, his Lookalike Acolytes are near impossible to dispatch even with a full regiment. A handful of Acolytes can wipe out an entire army with their magic. Well, the council agreed that the only solution available to us is to fight them at the only place where we are evenly matched; right here in the Dead Lands."

Ruru nearly choked on her mouthful of steak when she heard what Aquel had said.

"Onta and I are sure to be found here if you stage the battle here! If Ares gets my piece of the Triforce, his power will become unfathomable!"

"I understand, but I am willing to wager my life that he'll be too occupied with the battle at hand to notice one little cave out of many in these barren lands. Besides, if you know of any other anti-magic zones in this world, we'd be happy to use them." Aquel replied.

Ruru nodded reluctantly. "I see your point. What have you and the council decided to do about the dragons and their fire? Dragon fire will not be affected by the anti-magic." She said.

"As it stands, that is our biggest problem, but we have a partial solution. The northern Kingdom of Bensor has secretly pledged to send us all five thousand of their Blue Dragons should we choose to stand against Ares." Aquel said.

"That's not even close to enough! The Iresian Army has close to thirty thousand men, each with his own blood dragon mount! You can't hope to win!" Ruru said hotly.

"No, there is some hope. You know that Dantun has always been the most militaristic nation of our old alliance, and ever since the Iresian Coup, Ares has allowed us to keep our army, mainly because it is no threat to his Acolytes and he finds war entertaining. We easily have fifty thousand man with horses and weapons, nearly double Ares' army. With the five thousand dragons from the north we can stand a fighting chance, but only here in the Dead Lands where their magic is useless." Aquel finished.

"It will be close, you realize. The Iresian Dragons have only ever been matched by the Gorons in terms of strength. Even if you achieve victory, your people will be decimated and the losses will be beyond all imagination." Ruru said soberly.

"Just think of it though! With Ares vanquished and the Iresian Army destroyed, you and Onta could return to Hyrule! This will be a battle to liberate not just Dantun, but also Hyrule, Bensor, Il'Nead and all other nations that Iress has subjugated! We could go down as legendary heroes of the entire world!" Aquel said in a heroic voice.

Ruru looked back at her half-finished mural and was filled with a new and more powerful wave of longing. She was still filled with the dreadful premonition of Ares attaining the complete Triforce, but now the prospect of returning home was too much.

"All right, if it is the only way." She said begrudgingly.

The sound of shuffling feet faintly echoed through the nearby cave passageway and Ruru leapt to her feet, grabbing her scimitar.

"Oh cripes I forgot!" Aquel suddenly said, and stood. "I brought someone with me. I didn't want to bring him in here without first telling you," Aquel said, and then yelled down the passage, "Come on in Isaac!"

A man who appeared to be in his thirties emerged into the room. He had thick, spiky, sandy hair, an almost unnaturally young looking face, red eyes, and Ares' symbol embedded in his forehead. He wore a thick set of brown leather armor, a dark brown cloak, and some sort of steel collar around his neck.

"This is Isaac, he's our informant." Aquel said, gesturing toward Isaac.

Ruru scowled, deeply suspicious of Isaac's red eyes and forehead symbol. She put away her scimitar only with great reluctance, staring into Isaac's eyes in order to attempt to get a reading on him. When he extended his hand in order to shake hands with her, but she refused.

"I can understand your distrust Milady Elder. Even to this day I meet with Anmor and even Ares himself, so appropriate apparel is necessary in order to blend in. I can assure you that the only spying I'm doing is for Dantun." Isaac said

"He has already provided us with much valuable information on Ares' tactics and the inner workings of the Iresian government." Aquel piped up.

"I appreciate what you've done for us." Ruru said, finally assenting to shake Isaac's hand.

Isaac's gauntlet was rough leather, and it felt cold and impersonal in Ruru's hand. Isaac's grip was powerful, and as Ruru looked into his red eyes she could sense some ulterior motives hidden deep within him. She could not place them though, and she was deeply worried by it.

"Aquel tells me you've eluded Ares for almost forty years. Out of curiosity, how have you done it?" Isaac asked, reeking of unusual curiosity.

"Oh it's quite a tale! Tell it for us!" Aquel said merrily.

The fact that Isaac wanted to know these things deepened Ruru's suspicions, but she still had too much faith in Aquel to believe that he would be so easily taken in by an enemy spy. She swallowed her suspicions as best she could and retold the harrowing tale of how she and Onta had evaded Iresian pursuit. As she told it, Isaac appeared to be absorbed in her retelling, but showed no signs of emotion. Aquel was enthralled, and he vastly enjoyed the story as it played out.

"Now Onta and I live here in the Dead Lands, the only place where Ares and his Acolytes can't sense us. For all his magic and mental power, he cannot find us here where any energies, arcane or otherwise, mean nothing. Not even the magical essence of my piece of the Triforce can be sensed." Ruru finished

Isaac nodded. "That's quite fascinating, I must commend you for evading Ares so skillfully, often times I have heard him ranting and raging over the Triforce. You have artfully kept it from him."

Ruru suddenly perked up her eyebrows. "Does he have any leads at all as to where I am?" She asked.

"No, he is completely in the dark and it infuriates him" Isaac said with an amused grin. Aquel chuckled.

The smile faded from Aquel's face as he realized what time it was. "I'm afraid we should probably be going now, that story has taken most of my time here and I'll be missed at the palace soon." He said, pulling on his cloak.

As Aquel prepared to leave, Isaac looked over at Ruru's mural. He nodded appreciatively as Aquel fiddled with his hood.

"Hyrule?" Isaac asked tersely.

"Yes, though it's not finished." Ruru said. "Besides, I don't know how much of it Ares has burned since I've been gone."

Isaac leaned close to Ruru and whispered, "No, he has not destroyed your home, he rather takes tributes from all who live there. He regards Hyrule as a rich land that is too productive and useful to destroy."

"Let's get going Isaac, it'll take us a good hour to cross back through that dust storm!" Aquel shouted, walking out into the next cave passage.

"Thank you!" Ruru said to Isaac as he left.

**Chapter V – J5**

It was coming, a tiny glimmer in the sky that foreshadowed unimaginable destruction. Isaac's summons sparkled as they fell out of the sky towards the pinnacle of Air's rock, and Jenna could only look on in horror as death came down to greet them all. As the summons neared the summit, Jenna covered her eyes with her arms and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"No!" She cried, and bolted upright in her bed.

She had had the dream again, her memories of Isaac's final battle had crawled up out of her subconscious mind to haunt her. The covers were drenched in sweat and her heart was pounding. The gentle sound of the Lemurian Fountain outside her window floated in and comforted her, but she was still shaken after having to relive the most frightening moment of her life. It had been a miracle that they had survived at all, but Ares' great floating ship had stopped the summons at the last second, and Isaac was never seen again. This still did not stop Jenna's dreams from rewriting the scenario into a much worse outcome, and she slowly caught her breath and climbed out of bed to get dressed.

An easy, warm breeze flowed through the open windows of her tiny Lemurian house and caressed her skin as she pulled on a fresh set of clothes and brushed her teeth. She didn't doubt that she had slept in again, and that Felix and the others had already eaten breakfast. She sighed softly as she opened the door and walked out into the Lemurian City.

It was yet another average, dull day in Lemuria. The blue haired Lemurians lazily idled in the streets with nothing to do and nothing to hold their attention. They had all gotten used to the sight of Jenna and her friends, they had stayed for many years here. These years meant little to anyone in Lemuria, but familiarity develops independent from age.

Jenna strolled over to the marked and plunked down several coins to buy herself breakfast and an extra serving for Piers, who was living outside of the city and amongst the ruins of Ancient Lemuria. Ever since the Lemurian Senate had dictated that Piers' banishment remain final, she and the rest of the party rotated the duty of bringing food and company to the isolated Piers. It was Jenna's turn this morning, and she knew that he would be upset at her lack of punctuality. She thanked the Lemurian shopkeeper who had sold her the food and strode down through the city and toward the stairs that lead down to the tunnels under the city. Lemuria's permanent fog misted all around her and she unconsciously wished that she could see the sky again.

The tunnels underneath Lemuria were as dank and dark as always, the slow swishing of the tide flowing through the stone was hypnotic as Jenna walked past docked Lemurian ships sitting anchored in the dark water. It wasn't too far of a walk to reach the ruins of Ancient Lemuria, where rubble and wild plants reigned supreme.

Piers' somewhat crudely fashioned cottage stuck out like formalwear in a casual dinner, the collapsed pillars that were scattered around it told tales of prosperity long past. The weeds that consumed the whole area wildly tangled around the ruins, looking like great green veins wrapped around jutting bleached white bones. Jenna quickly hop-stepped through the tall foliage and knocked on Piers' door.

"You're quite late." Piers said sullenly, opening the door.

The inside of Piers' cottage was nearly as untidy as the yard, his books were scattered everywhere, lying open on tables and discarded on the floor. Oil lamps sat idly on any surface handy. The air smelled of must and even a hint of body odor, and Jenna stepped over the books carefully as she made her way over to a table to set down their food.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I overslept again. I think I'm getting out of shape." Jenna said apologetically as she swept some books aside and laid the food down on the table. "I see you're still reading up a storm."

"What else is there to do in this dreary place? I've already explored every single inch of these ruins and I can't go into modern Lemuria thanks to the Senate, so now I just read without end."

"At the rate you're going, you'll have read the entire unedited history of Weyward in another week." Jenna said, sitting down.

"There's more than enough history to last me years, and then I can read old fables after that. I don't think my entertainment is a problem." Piers said, sitting as well.

The two of them sat and ate in utter silence, each enjoying the delicious food that the Lemurian techniques had created. They had been in this situation before many times over the 40 years they had been hiding on the Lemurian isle, and due to the isle's magical properties, they still hadn't aged a day. It had taken Jenna many years to adjust to it, but since Lemuria was Piers' homeland it was a comforting familiarity.

Jenna sighed and reluctantly spoke to Piers, relaying the bad news she had heard. "The Senate has decided to send you out in a ship again to gather information on the state of the outside world. They've already forced the King to sign it."

Piers' fork clattered to his plate and he slowly looked up at Jenna with anger in his eyes.

"How many more loops are those fools going to make me jump through before they finally leave me alone to rot here in these god-forsaken ruins?" Piers said in an angry tone. "Drafting into service one who is banished is ridiculous, they should at least let me return and live in the city again if they're going to force me to risk my life just to see how far Ares' control has spread."

"I know your feelings and I understand them Piers, but please don't give the Lemurian Senate an excuse to banish you from the whole Island of Lemuria! You're lucky that they've let you stay here in these ruins, they could have easily thrown you out into the ocean."

"If I'm lucky to be living in this garbage heap, then I can't image what bad luck would be like." Piers said resentfully.

"Bad luck would be getting snared in one of Ares' traps and becoming one of his mindless servants! Listen, you cannot afford to be confrontational with the Senate now, they've been sitting around with little to discuss for months and if you give them reason to, they will focus all their attention on your deeds or misdeeds." Jenna said wisely.

"I'll do it, but only for you and Felix." Piers said reluctantly.

Jenna reached over the table and gave Piers a grateful hug. "In fact, I've decided to come with you to keep you company on your trip. You needn't be totally alone during such a trip, if there's only the two of us we should not be sensed by Ares or his men." Jenna said.

"No," Piers said calmly, "Nobody knows what the conditions are like out there, and out of our whole party of companions, you're the one I least want to see hurt Jenna. If anyone should come with me, it should be Felix. He is more skilled with the sword." Piers said.

"I'm perfectly able to take care of myself! Don't belittle my abilities in combat, you know how strong I am!" Jenna said, her temper climbing.

"Certainly not, you can be stronger than me even at times! What I'm saying is that, I'm afraid that should Ares discover and overpower us, I don't want you to be taken." Piers said, shrinking backwards.

Jenna sighed and stood up, her food still half uneaten. "I suppose, if you're that worried. I'll tell Felix of what you have said."

"Perhaps you can stay a bit longer? I've found a particularly mesmerizing book that I would like to share with you." Piers said, fishing a book from off of the floor.

"You have to remember that I can't read Lemurian script." Jenna said flatly.

"No worries, I'll read it aloud." Piers said, and flipped through the musty pages to the place where he had left off.

**Chapter VI – T12**

A deep metallic thrumming hummed up through the back end of the gunship as Tanis pushed the controls and gunned the engines. The ship's acceleration shoved him back into his seat, and the sky filled the screen in front of him as they gained altitude. A rattling echoed through the thick, sleek, red painted steel bulkheads as he turned the ship level with the horizon. The control panel underneath the skin glowed a warm red as readouts displayed altitude, air pressure, engine energy levels, and other unrecognizable graphs of data. Dim red light pulsed through narrow strips on the walls, making the inside of the ship feel alive and pulsing with blood. Tanis looked through the screen at the panoramic view of the Earth below them.

"Look at that!" Ashley said, pointing at the screen.

Miles below, patches of burnt wreckage and flames sparely dotted the sides of the mountains. Smoke was rising from most of them, and a few half destroyed hulls laid embedded in the scorched earth. More of Ares' gunships were darting about below, scanning the wrecks. They looked like flies flitting indecisively around a field of corpses.

"Looks like humanity still hasn't given up the fight." Tanis remarked sadly, trying to imagine the scope of the death below.

"Perhaps the survivor you senses is in one of those wrecks?" Ashley asked, pointing at a ship that was still half-intact.

"No, it's further south, we need to keep flying. I can sense nobody in those wrecks below." Tanis said solemnly.

Tanis pushed on the control sticks and flew them further south, and the mountains slowly but surely passed under them. The thrumming of the engines behind them was smooth and relaxing, almost hypnotic. The wrecks on the ground grew less and less frequent until they passed into view of a massive area of burnt and cratered land on the side of a larger mountain.

Tanis could feel that the one they were searching for was in those ruins below, so he directed the gunship to descend. The engines quieted to a degree and the ground began to approach them and grow in the screen. As Tanis watched, details among the wreckage came into view. He saw that the massive craters were covered in melted rock and glass, evidence that energy weapons had impacted here. He saw that the ruins were composed mainly of concrete and steel, and that there were large girders and support beams throughout the rubble. He knew this meant that this used to be a large building of some sort, and when he saw Ares' symbols painted on the ruins in several places, he knew that the humans must have struck here. One portion of the ruins was still standing, what looked like a concrete arch with a door in it leading down. Tanis guessed that there was a passage beyond, and he knew that this would be the best place to start searching. As the gunship gently touched down onto a generally clear position in the debris field, He pushed a button on the control panel and the whole ship powered down all at once. The side door hissed open and then the engines fell silent and the light strips on the wall darkened.

"What did you do that for?" Ashley asked in a partially frustrated tone.

"We don't want someone trying to steal this like we did, do we?" Tanis asked in reply. Ashley only shook her head and sighed.

The two of them stepped out of the ship and into a blast of smoky, hot air. It was hard for Tanis to breathe the scorching, dust filled air, and right away sharp bits of rubble and debris poked his feet painfully. He and Ashley stumbled through the wreckage over to the concrete archway and tried to pry the door open. It was crumpled and most likely had debris holding it shut from the other side, so it wouldn't budge when Tanis tried to open it. He frowned and then used his powers to rip the door out of its frame and off of its hinges, showing a passageway half-filled with rubble beyond. He grunted with frustration and began moving large pieces of concrete and steel out of the way so that they could get through.

"How deep do you think this is?" Ashley asked, looking on awkwardly.

"I'd guess a couple hundred feet." Tanis replied, tossing a steel girder away like a toy with his mind.

"Is our survivor down there?" Ashley asked.

"I think so, yes." Tanis said, throwing a large chunk of cracked concrete to the side.

Tanis felt himself using energy steadily as he cleared the passageway, and the two of them slowly made their way down a stairwell and into the darkness. Ashley flicked on her flashlight and illuminated the rubble in front of them, and Tanis continued the grunt work of lifting and throwing it all out of the way. He wasn't getting any physical exercise this way, but he could sure feel his psychic energy reserves getting strained. When they moved the last chunk of concrete out of the way, they emerged into a half collapsed room that appeared to be some sort of laboratory.

The entire left side of the room had been buried under collapsed concrete and steel, but the other half was still intact. Lab equipment, a familiar sight, lined the right wall, and off in the furthest corner rested a darkened tube that Tanis assumed to be a cloning tube. He skipped right over the other lab equipment and walked straight up to this tube and looked into it, but could see nothing through the opaque liquid and in the dark. He took the flashlight from Ashley and shone it directly into the tank, but could still see nothing. He handed it back to Ashley and then fumbled around on the ground for a stone.

The tank itself had partially fallen over, as the ceiling above it had buckled to a degree and pushed on the tank, causing it to crush downward and lean. It was obvious to Tanis that the mechanism could never open the tank properly now, so he found a large enough chunk of concrete on the ground and hit the bottom of the tank as hard as he possibly could. A web of cracks spidered out from the impact and the oxygenated liquid began seeping through. Tanis hit it in the same spot a second time, and a small hole opened. The dark liquid then began pouring through this hole with all speed. Tanis hit the hole a third time and it widened dramatically and the glass around it began to shatter. With one more blow, the entire tube gave way and completely shattered, releasing a torrent of liquid into the room that washed over both Tanis and Ashley like a tide. Ashley shrieked and jumped backwards, trying to avoid getting wet but failing.

As the liquid subsided and flowed away, Tanis's eyes widened as he took in the sight of the tank's inhabitant lying there in front of him. It was another of his species, but not similar to him or Ares. Her skin and fur were extremely dark grey, almost black. Her tail region was bright, crimson red like that of Ares. There were blades growing out of her shoulders, knees, and one on the tip of her tail. They glinted a silver sheen in the flashlight beam. There was a smooth, silvery machine attached to her back, it covered her entire back, her second neck, and the back of her head. It appeared to be attached near the base of her spine. She was slumped over forwards unconscious and did not move.

Tanis stood speechless, wondering what exactly to do as the figure before him remained limp and lifeless. He almost reached down to touch her, but something caused him to hesitate. Just as Ashley was about to say something, the form of this stranger suddenly convulsed and Tanis stood back as she began coughing and retching.

As the coughing finally stopped, the stranger's form stayed bent over forward and silence filled the room for a few strangling awkward moments. Then, she finally rose and faced Tanis, looking straight into his eyes with a gaze that could pierce stone. Her eyes were just as purple as Mewtwo's. Tanis got a complete look at her, she didn't have a standard chest plate like that of any other Mewtwo, but it stopped around her neck, making room for small but noticeable bulges where it normally would be. Ares' spined symbol was on her forehead as well, and as she scrutinized Tanis, he sensed a deep feeling of mistrust and spite in her.

"You're not my father…you're Tanis." She said bluntly.

"Who are you?" Tanis asked, still quite gripped by the shock of surprise.

"My full name is Shakara et Benca, but if you find that lengthy then you may just call me Shakara." She said flatly. "My father told me of you Tanis, he said that you were weak, and that he had destroyed you. I'm curious, how are you alive?"

Ashley suddenly drew one of her Pokeballs and stepped forward, scowling at Shakara. "She works for Ares! Let's take her out!" Ashley said hotly, preparing to throw the Pokeball and begin a battle.

"Me? Work for him? My father is a vicious, nearly heartless killer who only cares for conquest. I would never kill on his behalf, ridiculous little human." Shakara snapped. The machine attached to Shakara's head hummed loudly and she suddenly bent forward and gripped her skull with her clawed hands.

"No, I will not obey!" Shakara suddenly growled, and then the machine hummed louder and lit up like a Christmas tree. Shakara cried out in pain and stumbled to her knees.

Tanis knew then that there was an ally here in Shakara, and he formed a small energy blade in his hand and bent down to cut away the machine gripping Shakara's head. "Hold still!" He urged her, and then stabbed the blade into the silvery metal where it was stuck to her back. The device crackled and then fell silent, and Tanis slashed at it a few more times. It gave up the fight and made a loud click before falling off of Shakara's body like a leech that had drank its fill. Tanis saw a fresh burn mark on Shakara's back, a mark in the shape of Ares' three sword cross embedded in her flesh. There was also a small metal plug leftover in her back near the base of her spine. It looked as if the input plug where the module had been attached might even be attached to her spinal cord. Shakara sighed with relief and stood back up.

"For that I am grateful to you, but don't think I'm ready to trust you and your human friend yet Tanis." Shakara said, hardly smiling at all.

"You could at least act thankful." Ashley quipped, frowning at the whole spectacle.

"Whatever," Tanis said directly, "it doesn't matter to me. Right now I'm in dire need of some information you might be able to provide for me. Tell me, what year is it? When did Ares say he defeated me?"

"I just came out of my cloning tube and into real life, so don't expect me to know whatever date it is. I do remember my father mentioning that he had killed you about forty years ago however."

"Forty years?" Tanis said, stumbling on the words. "Yet neither Ashley nor I have aged a day in our stasis pods! Right now I don't have time to admire Ares' stasis technology though, tell me, what is the extent of his empire?"

"My father controls this entire planet. He never gave me much information on the state of the world's affairs, but from what he has told me, he keeps the human population under control growing food and manufacturing supplies for him. He has some major ambitions on other worlds and he's been using this planet as his home base."

Ashley suddenly interrupted the conversation in order to pose a question. "I know that since you're inside Ares' Empire, you're going to be entitled to some information, but how do you know such an extensive amount?"

"I am his daughter if you haven't guessed already. He wanted me to be at his side to conquer worlds, so he felt it necessary to let me know what he terms "the basics". Why do you need to know any of this?" Shakara retorted sharply.

"Because we were fighting to stop his conquests when he sealed us in stasis pods and apparently dropped us into Purity Lake like a load of rubbish!" Tanis said, not liking the manner in which Shakara was speaking to his friend.

Shakara suddenly looked away into the darkness of the lab around them. "So this is the lab my father grew me in, how delightfully dismal. I'm sure the rest of the world under his control will be just as fun."

Tanis ignored Shakara's strange remarks for the moment, he was too busy being happy that Ares was basically keeping the world alive instead of destroying it. He knew that they might just have a slight chance of defeating him if they managed to get control of the Triforce. Then, he remembered Ares' scheme to collect the Triforce and resurrect Darkest, and so he turned to Shakara to ask about it.

"Did your father ever tell you about one named Darkest?" Tanis asked.

Shakara turned to look back at Tanis. "No, who is he?"

"Never mind. Has he mentioned anything about the Triforce?" Tanis asked.

"Only that it's an artifact of great power and that he's been looking for the missing third piece ever since he killed you." Shakara said.

"Yes!" Tanis and Ashley both said simultaneously, and Ashley raised her hand in the air, expecting a high five. Tanis was unfamiliar to that custom though, so he ended up leaving her hanging.

"You're afraid of what he might do with it?" Shakara asked.

"Let's just say that it wouldn't be good for any of us." Tanis said.

"It would be good for me!" Shakara suddenly said in a snappish tone. "He would give me whatever I wanted!"

Tanis was taken aback for a moment and was silent before speaking. "You were just acting as if you hated him!" He said confusedly.

Shakara's expression shifted, and she suddenly stared intently at the floor. "Forget it. What else do you want from me, I want to leave this place now." She said sullenly.

"Well, my friend Ashley and I are probably going to go on a search for the final piece of the Triforce to get it before Ares does. Would you be interested in coming with us, or do you have more feelings for him than you realize?" Tanis asked.

Shakara looked down at her feet for a few moments before looking back up at Tanis without any visible emotions on her face. "Anything to get away from this place." She said, sighing heavily.

"Where are we going to head next?" Ashley asked.

"I don't really know, but if the Triforce was here on Earth then Ares would have found it by now, so perhaps he has gone to the Zelda Universe to search there?" Tanis said. "I'm just not certain how we can get there. My father never left me instructions on how to create a dimensional portal, he told me I could figure it out myself."

"My father has an interdimensional highway setup around this entire planet, he told me about how he uses it to spread his influence to different worlds." Shakara piped in as they began walking up the stairs toward daylight.

"Really? Perhaps we can use it!" Tanis said excitedly.

"We'd need one of his ships to use it though, he told me that it's a high energy dimension vortex that is too turbulent to travel through without the protection of steel hulls around you." Shakara said.

"We've already captured one of his gunships. Apparently fate has already laid out our course for us," Tanis said as they approached the top of the stairs.

"Your father told you quite a lot during your stay in your tube, didn't he?" Ashley observed.

"He explained almost every element of his empire so that I would be prepared to stand beside him when I was ready."

"Ironic that you would end up using this against him!" Tanis said, nearly chuckling as they emerged out onto the rubble of the base on the surface.

"So this is why he left me…" Shakara said, shocked at the devastation that the humans had inflicted on the base.

Tanis didn't hear her words however; he was too far ahead walking briskly towards the gunship. "We're in for quite a ride you two, let's get going!" He shouted as he stepped into the smooth steel interior of the ship once more.

A/N: This chapter was especially hard to wring from the mighty grasp of the writer's block monster, and the IB exam didn't help that. It may have some errors scattered through it due to the fact that I've been cramming so heavily lately, and my head is overrun by equations. Feel free to point out any brainless/idiotic errors that I might have made in my math-induced haze. Thanks again for reading and reviewing!


	16. Part II: Resurrection Chunk 3

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Well, I must apologise for not posting at all for the first half of the summer. To make up for my overall business, I've got a 23 pager ready for you here! Now I've got to contend with my summer homework assignments, oy.

**_Part II - Resurrection_**

**Chapter VII – A11**

There was just something about Shakara et Benca that rubbed Ashley Ketchum the wrong way. It could have been that nagging frown that was always at the corner of Shakara's mouth, or the judgmental glint in her purple eyes. It might even have been the way that her bladed tail swished idly from side to side as she constantly eyed everyone with distrust, giving the impression that she would strike at them at any moment. But most likely it was that sinister metal symbol imprinted on her forehead, the same symbol that adorned Ares' skull. All these factors taken together were certainly enough to make any person wary in Shakara's company, but it seemed to have an amplified effect on Ashley, who was used to Tanis' outgoing and friendly personality. Shakara stared at her sharply as the doors of their gunship slid shut.

"There should be enough room in the back room for you to sit in." Tanis said to Shakara as he sat in the pilot's chair.

Shakara merely grunted an affirmation, and Ashley could practically taste tension in the air. She made a decision then that she felt she would regret in the pit of her stomach, but thought would be good at the time.

"I'll sit with you, if you don't mind." Ashley said to Shakara, and followed her as she opened the door into the cylindrical chamber.

As the two of them found seats, the ship rumbled to life and Ashley felt them rise from the ground and accelerate. She looked over at Shakara, knowing that this situation might be tense and unpleasant, but she wanted to make a friendly gesture toward Shakara. Shakara's shifting eyes ran over her again and again, and yet she said nothing. As the ship gained speed, Ashley began to feel more and more uncomfortable.

"I'm going to take us toward an old human city, I need to know the general state of things in the world now." Tanis shouted back at them over the loud hum of the gunship's rhythmic propulsion systems.

"Whatever you want, It's your own time you're wasting." Shakara said pointedly.

Ashley frowned for a quick moment, but hid it before Shakara could see. She was becoming angry at the dismissive and even hostile way that Shakara was treating them, and she hoped that her anger didn't show. She smiled at Shakara, who only stared at her without showing any emotion in turn. Her tail continued to flick across the floor, its blades making a soft yet unnerving scraping sound. A bit of turbulence jolted the ship, and the blades tapped the floor, and Ashley nearly cringed. Shakara only turned away and looked back at the front of the ship. Ashley felt sweat begin to bead on her own forehead.

As the royally disconcerting ride continued, Shakara began tapping her clawed fingers on the metal bench that she sat on. The glisteningly sharp blades made a sharp rapping sound, and they came in terse, three tap increments. The scraping of Shakara's tail blades on the floor accented them, causing an almost torturous annoyance for Ashley. She clenched her fists in her jean pockets and ground her teeth, but she kept right on smiling the whole time through.

"You know, you could just come out and say it." Shakara suddenly said, still looking up at the front of the ship.

"Say what? What do you mean?" Ashley said, straining not to show her excruciating frustration.

"You dislike me, you hate being back here with me, you think I'm extremely annoying and a tad offensive." Shakara said plainly, not turning to look at Ashley.

"I never said-" Ashley began, but Shakara cut her off.

"Of course you never said anything, but it's written all over your mind and your aura. Anyone with even the slightest touch of psychic ability could sense it from miles away. You reek of it. I've been wondering why you haven't outright declared it to me, but now you've demonstrated that you don't have significant memory capacity to remember that I can read your mind like an open book." Shakara said, turning and scowling at Ashley acidically.

Ashley was completely taken aback. She was incapable of responding, and even if she weren't she wouldn't have the right words to say. She stumbled over a few words, but again Shakara cut her off.

"Listen, whenever you put on a façade of feelings, or feel the need to lie to me, don't. I can sense your thoughts without even trying, so when you think you can conceal something from me it insults not only my intelligence, but my psychic capabilities."

Ashley gave up on responding, knowing that Shakara could just read her no matter what she felt. She simply scowled and watched as Shakara stood from her seat.

"I'm going to ask Tanis a few questions, if you don't mind." Shakara said, and then walked up to the cockpit. Ashley sighed and followed her.

"We've got serious problems." Tanis said as they entered the cockpit.

"Good, just what I need; more good news." Ashley said, now feeling perfectly irritated. "Get on out with it then."

"Ares' fleet has queried us again, and now my responses aren't good enough. They've ordered us to return to base for inspection, since we've deviated from scheduled flight plans. Already three more gunships are on their way to escort us." Tanis said gravely.

"Well, I'm not exactly eager to meet my father, so you'd better think of a plan to get us out of here." Shakara said snappishly.

"What the hell is that?" Ashley said as the screen turned to face a new and horrifying scene.

In the screen before them a great and towering line of orange-yellow tinted clouds stretched massively into the sky. The light from the setting sun behind them cast a sickly orange glow over it, and its bottom was wreathed in shadow and webbed with yellow lightning, which filled the darkness thicker than the thickest arachnid's trap.

"Well, the console in front of me is flashing "Incoming magnetic storm", so I'm assuming its some sort of magnetic anomaly in the Earth's atmosphere. Tanis said.

"My father said that these have happened all the time since the Black River was finished." Shakara said cryptically.

"Black River?" Ashley asked.

"It's the name he gave to the dimensional vortex I was telling you about, the one that looks like the great strip of darkness high in the atmosphere. The energy involved in such an interdimensional construction causes massive disturbances in the planet's magnetic field, which eventually culminate into storms like these, which we most certainly shouldn't be flying towards." Shakara said, urgency suddenly filling her voice.

Tanis tapped the controls and the view screen whirled around to show three of Ares' gunships fast approaching them from behind, their lasers already glowing at full charge.

"Unless you know of a better way to lose them, we're going through that storm." Tanis said flatly.

"You don't understand, the EMP associated with such a disturbance will knock out this ship's engines, computers, everything! We'll fall out of the sky!" Shakara said forcefully.

"I've yet to hear a better idea, and besides, we can psychically fly this thing through the storm and make it look like we disappeared." Tanis said.

Shakara only shook her head and shrugged her bladed shoulders. "It's your choice." She only said.

After a few more seconds the other gunships had come up along side them, and Ashley stared at the screen worriedly as they hovered with them , the guns glowing bright with charge. Tanis suddenly smiled.

"They've sent their final warning, and they're about to fire." He said almost hopelessly. "I guess the game's finally back on. You might want to sit down or brace yourselves."

Shakara jumped into the gunner's seat, but Ashley didn't make it to the benches in the back of the ship in time. The sudden acceleration sent her flying backwards and she spun around on the slippery metal floor until her feet met a wall. She heard explosions over the thrum of the engines and knew the battle had already started. She climbed up off of the floor and braced in a bench, feeling extremely out of place again as the seat which was designed to fit Tanis' body structure failed to fit tightly around her. She barely steadied herself when Tanis shouted a warning.

"We're about to enter the storm, hold on!" He yelled.

Suddenly all the lights inside the ship went black, and an intense series of spark-filled flashes filled the bridge for a brief moment. The airtight doors were sealed so well that no further light could enter the now un-powered craft. Ashley suddenly felt herself fall to the ceiling as the ship plummeted toward the Earth. Then she slammed back down to the floor when the ship suddenly stopped falling. A glowing illumination flooded the ship's interior as Tanis and Shakara concentrated their powers to lift the craft. Tanis gripped Shakara's hands in his own, and his bright orange aura merged with Shakara's blood red aura. In that moment, as Ashley looked on in awe, both Shakara and Tanis were one with each other, Shakara's mind free from chaotic emotions and Tanis reaching a new level of co-operative power.

The thunderous crashes of the lightning outside the ship were deafening, even through the thick steel hulls. Ashley felt the craft rock violently and shake as bolts of energy struck it multiple times and tossed it about. Even Ashley, with her dull human senses could feel the electric energy humming in the air, and she was sure it was an unhealthy dosage. The time crept by and Tanis and Shakara showed no visible signs of movement. The storm continued to intensify.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of continuous electric explosions and nauseating tossing of the ship to and fro, the storm finally cleared. Slowly but surely, lights in the ship began to flicker on as the systems rebooted. It was a miracle that any part of the ship's electronics could have remained intact, but none of the passengers even dared to question it. Once the engines began to feebly hum a few rounds, Tanis and  
Shakara let go of each others' hands and stopped glowing. The damage to their ship became apparent.

Almost every single part of the holographic consoles had shorted out. In several places the equipment has completely fused. The communications panel was nothing but a hunk of carbonized metal and silicon. The main view-screen was burned to a crisp, and the engines were making sounds like they could give out at any moment. When Shakara pressed the weapons triggers on her gunner's joysticks, the lasers didn't respond.

"Nice job, I'm sure we're space-worthy now." Shakara said bitingly.

Ashley felt herself grinding her teeth; part of her wished she had been left inside the stasis tube.

**Chapter VIII – S2**

"Well, if my father didn't know anything was up before, he sure does now." Shakara remarked sharply.

The negative emotions emanating from Tanis and Ashley were almost stifling to Shakara, she felt as if she were suffocating in a cloud of anger and frustration. It was almost tangible to her, and she couldn't help but add to it with her own frustration.

"We'll need to stop using our powers from here on so that Ares doesn't discover us." Tanis said. "I hope this ship can hold out long enough for us to find a new ride."

Shakara looked at the dead view-screen and frowned. She sensed life energy of a human settlement below. Then, she forcefully shut down all her abilities so that her father couldn't detect her.

"The human town you wanted to see is below us now. I'd suggest we land there before the engines breathe their last. Shakara said, trying to make her own anger go away.

"Let's go then, my stomach is absolutely desolate and I could eat an entire cow!" Ashley said.

Tanis nodded and sat back down in front of the control sticks. Shakara pushed in front of Ashley to get back at the gunner's seat, even though she knew the weapons would be ruined. A part of her wanted to sit next to Tanis and away from Ashley, who was becoming more and more unpleasant by the moment. Ashley let out a small huff of indignation as Shakara pushed past her, and then moaned in anger when she saw that one of Shakara's knee blades had cut right through her jeans.

"These are my favorite jeans, look what you did to them!" Ashley whined, looking down at the gash in the fabric.

"At least it missed your skin." Shakara said, smirking to herself.

The ship suddenly wobbled underneath them before Ashley could respond. Tanis tried to bring them down as slowly and smoothly as he could, but obviously the control mechanisms had been affected and the ship rolled and tumbled like a drunken bee. Ashley again tumbled to the floor and Shakara braced herself in the gunner's seat. It wasn't too long before a monumental crash signaled their touching solid ground. The engines coughed one last time before exploding and filling the inside of the ship with smoke. Tanis jumped up and threw the outer door open and Ashley followed him out. Shakara opened a weapons cabinet in the back of the troop compartment and pulled out as many explosive grenades and laser rifles as she could carry. The smoke irritated her lungs and she coughed as she stumbled out of the warped doorframe and into the twilight.

"What are those for?" Ashley asked incredulously when Shakara stepped out carrying an arsenal of laser weapons.

"In case we're found out. Here, hold these." Shakara said, and handed Ashley the guns.

Shakara primed one of the explosive grenades in her hand and then tossed it into the gunship's open door. Tanis and Ashley didn't need to be told, they all ran and dove for cover behind the crest of a nearby hill. A great thundering concussion shuddered through the ground, and several satisfying smaller bangs soon followed afterward. Shakara looked up to see that there was little left of the gunship now except a scorched hull and skeleton-like framework of steel.

"And what was that for?" Ashley further inquired, holding awkwardly onto the black and red colored laser rifles.

"So that Ares would have a reason not to come searching for us." Shakara said, standing back up. "We'll need to find cover now, the other gunships will undoubtedly be here soon to survey the site. We need to hide."

Tanis stood as well. "Alright, the human town is less than a mile west of here, let's go."

The three of them sprinted as hard as they could across the dry, barren flats and toward the squat little brick buildings of the settlement. The lights in the windows glowed drearily in the last few hints of twilight before dusk, and the temperatures of the desert around them were already falling to their nightly lows. Power lines stood starkly inside the structures like watchtowers, and as Tanis, Ashley, and Shakara entered the city limits the gentle humming became audible. A pub near the town's center was alive with raucous laughter and shouting, and distinctly human smells of body odor and beer entered Shakara's nostrils for the first time. She couldn't react with anything other than disgust.

"Where should we go?" Tanis asked, scanning the different buildings frantically.

"There, that looks like some sort of factory. Everybody's going to be at the bar, not working." Ashley said, pointing at a building that had four great transformers in front of it. All the town's power lines stemmed from them. On the top were two steam vents, one of which was pouring a cloud of the thick white vapor into the darkened sky. Tanis, Ashley and Shakara ran over to it with all haste and found the door unlocked.

Inside the building was almost totally dark, the faint twilight from the outside did not filter through the thick yellowed windows. The sound of humming machinery came from the far corner of the vast chamber, and the air tasted of some unknown metallic chemical. Shakara now felt doubly uncomfortable.

Ashley produced her flashlight and turned it on. What the narrow beam revealed wasn't especially noteworthy, there was a large machine dominating the center of the room, rising almost all the way to the ceiling 20 feet above them. Catwalks filled the space around it, looking like thin spider webs of steel. There were all manner of tools and machines lying strewn willy-nilly on the ground, including the most primitive of wheelbarrows to what looked like laser drilling devices. There was a large shaft near the left side of the massive machine about ten feet wide with stairs descending into the pitch blackness below.

Red lights suddenly flooded over the town and a great whooshing noise was heard a few blocks away in the town.

"Quickly, they must plan on searching the city!" Shakara said, and ran towards the staircase leading into the shaft.

Shakara took Ashley's flashlight and lead them down into the abyss below the factory. They descended thousands of steps, and the humming of the machinery above was lost to the distance. When they reached the bottom, three or four passageways branched off into the inky blackness, and in these tunnels the smooth steel walls of the shaft gave way to natural rock that appeared to be bored through. Shakara picked one at random and lead them into the tunnel with the piercing knife of the flashlight's light as their guide.

"This must be some sort of mine." Ashley said as they passed trolleys filled with various unidentified ores.

"Be careful, we don't know if there are any pitfalls or other hazards." Tanis said cautiously. By the time they had reached a dead end in the stone corridors they had all run out of breath and were panting and sweating like dogs. The three of them sat with their backs against the rough stone wall and rested for a moment.

"We need to save batteries, so I'm going to turn this light emitter off for awhile." Shakara said. "I hope none of you are afraid of the dark.

When the flashlight beam suddenly flickered out, a total and complete darkness fell over Shakara that only compared to the ones she had gone through during her father's training for her. He had forced her to live days in complete blackness, and she had learned not to let the sensory deprivation bother her. But at the same time, this brought back memories of him that were less than pleasant and she suddenly felt anxiety begin to creep into her mind. The darkness was all encompassing, but at least the sound of Ashley and Tanis' breathing was there as an anchor to reality. She focused in on the sound and the fear slowly receded. Her entire world shifted to revolve around audio perceptions, and she was at ease.

After a few minutes, Shakara heard a suspicious sound, some pebbles tumbled to the stone floor. It stopped after a moment, and then started again. The tiny stones clattered to the floor in the darkness, the sound stark and slightly unnerving in the otherwise deathly silent passage. Shakara could hear nothing else besides her companions' breathing, no sounds of approaching footsteps. There was a sudden, loud cracking sound, and then the sound of several large stones hitting the floor. This was all Shakara needed to hear, she turned on the flashlight.

Pointing it up at the ceiling, Shakara saw the bare stone was cracking just a few feet away from them down the tunnel. Another large chunk of stone fell and smashed to pieces on the floor.

"It looks like we may have to make a break for it!" Tanis said urgently, getting up off of the stone floor.

A rock fell and struck Ashley squarely on the skull, and she shouted in surprise. "Argh! I hate cave-ins!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

"We need to get out of here, right now!" Tanis said urgently, running down the corridor to escape. Shakara caught up to him and grabbed his arm.

"Don't be foolish! We'll never make it out on foot! There's no time! If we teleport, the Acolytes will zero in on us in an instant!" She said, holding Tanis' arm firmly.

"Then what should we do?" Tanis replied angrily, his will to live burning in his eyes.

"I don't know! All I do know right now is we must avoid capture at all costs!" Shakara shouted over the now loud rumbling.

"I'm not willing to pay my life!" Tanis said.

At that moment, a monumentous crash boomed from down the corridor and rocks tumbled down from the ceiling. Shakara pulled Tanis with her away from the falling stone and back toward the dead end. The floor shifted under her feet, tilting forwards violently and throwing her off balance. She and Tanis landed on top of Ashley and the three of them were buried under a pile of smaller rocks. They all slid together down the newly formed slope through yet more piles of rock until they finally emerged unharmed inside a new room. When the rumbling finally stopped, Shakara picked her way out of the pile and looked around her. It was pitch black again, the rocks had broken the bulb in their flashlight.

"Is everyone alright?" Tanis shouted.

"I'm bruised up, but otherwise fine." Ashley said, her voice muffled under a pile of stones that she had not yet dug out from under.

"As am I." Shakara said, reaching her hands out in front of her to feel the darkness.

More tumbling rocks were heard as Tanis and Ashley pulled themselves free, and a loud metallic thump filled the air when Shakara's foot hit what felt to be a very larger metal drum. Pain thudded through her foot and she held back the urge to use her recover ability to heal it. She reached down with her hands and grasped the object with which she had collided. It was a metallic crate of some sort, and it felt rusted in her hands. She threw it aside and continued to fumble around the darkness.

"I can't see a blasted thing!" Ashley griped, "Where'd the flashlight go?"

"It's broken, and because of that we may be lost down her for years." Shakara said grimly.

"Well how nice, yet another cheerful happening in an otherwise splendid day!" Ashley shouted, her anger no longer contained.

At that moment Shakara ran headfirst into a stone wall, the rock clacking against the metal of Ares' Symbol upon her forehead. Instead of being upset however, she became excited. Her instincts told her that the presence of a metal crate might mean that this cave had been inhabited at some time, and thusly there could be lights installed in the ceiling. She felt up and down the walls for a few minutes, coming across metal pipes but no switches. Then she came across a framed doorway, and next to it, a switch box. She eagerly flipped the switch and cringed when the light flashed back on and stung her eyes.

"Ah….nice job there!" Tanis said, covering his eyes in the unexpected brightness emanating from the ceiling.

After a few moments, Shakara's eyes finished adjusting and she looked over the room that they occupied. There were several metal crates, barrels, and pipes all over the floor, and more pipes lined the walls in a sparsely woven latticework. The stone was a grimy yellow color, a mineral that Shakara didn't recognize. The doorway she had found lead off into the darkness beyond, turning a left corner.

"Shall we proceed?" Shakara asked, stepping into the only corridor.

"It's not like we have anywhere else to go." Ashley said, pointing at the pile of collapsed rock they had barely escaped.

The three of them walked down into the darkened corridor, which surprisingly wasn't as dark as the mine shaft they had just came from. There seemed to be a dim light coming around the corner ahead of them, and the light from the odd storage room they had just came from still radiated behind them. Shakara knew she couldn't predict what would lie ahead, but she still wasn't prepared for the sight that met her eyes around the tunnel's corner.

When they did turn that corner, the passage before them opened up into a massive cavern that appeared to be miles wide and long, and several hundred feet high. They were now walking on a sturdy steel catwalk, and on the floor of the cavern below sat a glowing city that was in a perpetual state of twilight. Yellow lights flickered and glowed in the buildings and streets below, and the other cave walls around them were lined with similar meshes of catwalks and pipes, along with many dotted tunnels that lead to other unknown rooms.

Before Shakara could say anything or even react, the sound of a human woman screaming met her ears. She jolted around to see a middle aged woman in tattered clothes staring at her in sheer terror. The woman then reached over and slammed her hand against a large red button on a panel in the wall and then ran down the catwalks away from them. As soon as the button was pressed, a deafeningly loud klaxon blared throughout the gigantic city-cave and red flashing lights flooded every nook and cranny. Shakara was frankly stunned, she had no idea what to do. Soon she heard clomping footsteps approaching them on the catwalks.

Hundreds of human soldiers wearing armor and headgear stormed up to them carrying large, sleek looking laser rifles. They didn't even take time to pause and ask questions either, they saw Ares' symbol on Shakara's forehead and opened fire.

Ashley jumped to the ground to avoid the sizzling bolts and Shakara felt there was nothing for her to do except use her powers. She raised a psychic shield and felt the lasers pound it with incredible force. The sheer power that these men had built into their weapons was astounding, with each blast that Shakara blocked, her energy dropped significantly. She knew there could be no toying around any longer. With one large psychic gesture, she grabbed the weapons out of her opponents' hands and tossed them down into the city streets hundreds of feet below.

"Stop!" She shouted in her loudest psychic voice, feeling it echo back to her with great force. "We're not servants of Ares! We've merely stumbled upon your hideout!"

But words were not enough to convince these men, and Shakara could not blame them when they began throwing grenades at her and her friends. She grabbed the grenades out of the air and threw them down the empty hallway behind her. The collective explosions shook the catwalk upon which they stood and collapsed the tunnel they had just came through.

"Silence!" Tanis shouted. "If you will not believe her, then believe me! I do not have Ares' Symbol upon my skull and I am free from his influence! We mean you no harm! Trust me, if we were Ares' minions, the Acolytes would already be swarming into here behind us!"

"They may yet, after we used our powers as such." Shakara whispered to him.

"Who are you?" One of the men in the back shouted.

"I am Tanis, son of Mewtwo, and this is Shakara et Benca, daughter of Ares."

"She's his daughter, we must kill her!" A man in front shouted, and charged forward with a rather large knife.

Shakara knocked the blade out of the man's hand by swinging her tail up and striking his knife with her tail blade. She grabbed his arm and pulled him close to her so that she could see his eyes through his visor.

"My father is a cruel, wicked person, and I no longer want anything to do with him! If you need any proof, and watch!" She said, and raised her hand to her forehead. Her claws extended from her fingers and she slowly raked them across the symbol on her forehead. The grinding of the metals rattled her skull and a bolt of red hot pain emanated from the symbol as she defaced it. It was still so much a part of her that to damage it was physically painful, but in the moment she had a point to prove and a boiling pot of anger at her father simmering in her mind.

"This symbol stands for everything my father lives and fights for! I dishonor it! I swear it off! I deface it with my own hand! That is an act of defiance that would normally result in death by Ares' hand itself, and there is no changing the damage I have done to it."

Shakara threw the man back and lowered her clawed hand to reveal great gashes in the symbol that were leaking an ominous red blood. "Do you now know the strength of my convictions?" She growled at the man. He whimpered a small but and backed away until he was amongst his shocked comrades once more.

"If you do not serve Ares, what is your business here?" Another bolder man asked, stepping forward.

"We came here by accident, fleeing the Acolytes." Tanis said. "We actually were in a mineshaft not too far from this spot when the rock collapsed and deposited us in one of your storage rooms."

"Excuse me," Ashley said, standing back up and walking up to stand by Shakara's side. "Don't you think it would be odd that one of Ares' minions would keep a human girl like me with them, especially without some sort of controlling device? If you won't listen to them, listen to me. At least you can identify with my humanity. We need food, water, and shelter. Will you trust us and provide those for us?" She asked pleadingly.

The men whispered amongst themselves for a moment, except for the particularly bold man who had approached them just now. He instead took off his visor and held it in his arms for a moment. His hair was short and trimmed in a militaristic crew-cut, and his brown eyes stared at them searchingly.

"Well, if you were Acolytes then you would have controlled my mind the moment I took off my neural-inhibitor helmet, so I think that for the moment, I can believe you." He then turned back towards the other humans in his group. "Bring General Wells immediately! Have word sent to the Council of our situation immediately!" The man said.

The human troops stood nervously, still pointing their weapons at Shakara. They were utterly silent, a few of them shaking slightly. Shakara understood their distrust, she thought it healthy for any rebels who were facing a possibly enemy spotter. Shakara took the silent moment to reach out with her mind and check her surroundings. She knew their cover was blown already, so there was no use in continuing the psychic silence. She felt the Acolytes hundreds of feet above them in the town, but oddly they were not coming down to investigate. In fact, she sensed them moving back toward their ship. She psychically watched as they boarded it and flew off without further investigation. She was suddenly very confused.

"Do you sense it?" She whispered to Tanis, "Our company isn't coming after all."

Tanis nodded, a bewildered look on his face as well. He turned around suddenly when a man approached him.

"The General wishes to see you!" He said hesitantly.

"Try to make a good first impression please, for all our sakes." Tanis said back to Shakara, who only huffed a little in indignation at the remark.

**Chapter IX – R12**

The artist's block finally gave way as Ruru grasped her frayed horsehair brush. Onta sat behind her and watched as she daubed the green paint onto the cave wall to put leaves on a tree. She gave form to the Kokiri Forest as she remembered it, still wondering if it had indeed been burned to the ground during her absence. The howling winds of the Dead Lands continued to wail their foul dirge through the cave passages overhead as Ruru painted the scenes out slowly and surely. She did not hear footsteps as they entered the cave.

"I've got some more food." Aquel said as he emerged into the room.

Ruru set her brush down and turned to where Aquel had laid a fresh sack of edibles. "What news?" She asked eagerly.

"Well, you remember I told you of Iress' regent upon the Dantunian Throne, Queen Ianalka?" Aquel asked.

"Yes, I remember you told me she is a greedy and apathetic monarch who only cares about her own pleasure." Ruru replied, unwrapping more salted meats.

"Well, we're now planning the coup against Iress, and it will start with Isaac assassinating Ianalka and having the highest Dantunian Council member reclaim the throne. Isaac himself has volunteered the assassination."

Ruru found her suspicions of Isaac shrink a little more upon hearing Aquel's words. Assassinating a Iresian monarch would certainly mean death for the perpetrator should he be caught, no matter their rank. Ares and Anmor did not take kindly to treason. "What then?" She asked.

"We will immediately evacuate the entire council to the Dead Lands, accompanied with the entire Dantunian army and set up a temporary stronghold to await the inevitable assault by Iresian forces. We have already sent word to Bensor that the rebellion is beginning, their forces should arrive just as we finish preparations here in a week and long before the Iresians arrive."

"What of Isaac?" Ruru asked.

"Right now, he's gathering more info from Anmor as we speak, but he will return in two days to perform the assassination. After that, he will no longer go to meet with Ares, as most likely his cover will be blown. We will give him a place alongside the Dantunian Council inside our stronghold."

"Out of curiosity, who is the eldest member of your council, the one who will reclaim the Dantunian throne?" Ruru asked, picking up an apple.

"It is not I, I am far too young for the position. The man who has been on the Council for the longest is named Eumil Ayatta, and he is the Sovereign of the western province of Nulive. He is very calm and intelligent, but his stalwart aggression in politics and military matters makes him an excellent man for the position." Aquel said.

Ruru nodded as she chewed on the apple. It was very sweet, a taste she didn't get to enjoy very often. She wondered if there weren't many fruit trees growing in Dantun.

Aquel looked over at the mural Ruru had been painting. "I see you've made some progress recently." He remarked, staring at the wet paint.

Ruru nodded and swallowed the piece of the apple. "I've still got two thirds of the forest left to paint, but once it's finished I'll only have the Gerudo Valley left to paint." She said.

"Any reason why you're painting your homelands last?" Aquel asked curiously.

Ruru sighed. "Because it would be hard to stare at them every day and not be able to go home to them." She said in a longing tone.

Aquel suddenly took on a look of embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I really am." He said.

"Every day my sister and I would wake up at dawn and practice at the archery range. If it weren't for her, I would be nothing with the bow. At night she taught me how to put my feelings into a brush and to give life and form to paint on a canvas. Hardly any of our people have artistic talent like this, they spend all their time practicing with blades and learning lore. The fact that my sister knew this craft made me admire her even more." Ruru said, her voice slowly trailing off during the last sentence.

The room was hushed except for the endless droning of the winds above, Onta and Aquel wanted to give Ruru her moment of remembrance.

"The cold desert nights at my home in the desert were always the most beautiful in the summer. My room in the old Gerudo Palace was at the top of a particularly large tower, and I could always look out the window at night and see for miles over the plains beyond. I could see the hills where the dry dirt gave way to lush grass a fertile farmlands, and the specks of light from the farmers' houses dotted the distance like glimmering topazes. If the moon was full, I could see the tiny lines that were roads crisscrossing the lands in the distance, and every once in awhile a cloud of rising dust meant that a wagon or carriage was passing through the night."

"It was truly a sight to behold, more than once have I stayed in Hyrule Castle overnight, and I too was gifted with a wondrous view. I once overlooked the entire Castle City from a tall tower, I could watch all the people do their nightly business like ants below, and the wavering light of the houses beyond shone just as you described them." Onta said, his aged face showing a pining regret.

"Friends! You may yet return to these lands should the war be won!" Aquel said.

"Yes, but I may never see my sister again." Ruru said miserably.

Neither Onta nor Aquel knew what to say at this point, so they remained silent once more. Once a few minutes passed, Aquel spoke up once more.

"We have also sent messengers out to the other nations in hopes that they might provide us with aide as well. It will be at least a day before they reach Theria and Il'Nead, and it is doubtful that our third messenger will even make it to Hyrule, seeing as the Iresian presence is strongest there. We should have an answer from Theria and Il'Nead the day of the Assassination, and perhaps even reinforcements before the battle even begins." Aquel said hopefully.

"I want you to make it clear to the Dantunian Council that their stronghold isn't to be erected anywhere near the cave Onta and I share here. Should any of the Iresian troops find their way to this chamber, Ares and Anmor could find us and acquire my piece of the Triforce. To have that happen would mean certain defeat, for the power of the completed Triforce could overcome even the sucking energy vortexes here in the Dead Lands, and your army would be decimated."

"I will make absolutely certain of it."

"Also, you should ensure that this region where our cave is located remains totally inconspicuous. We cannot have anything draw Ares or Anmor's attention here. Do whatever it takes to make this the least interesting piece of land in the entire region." Ruru said.

"Indeed, we will place no extra troops here, but not so few as to arouse suspicion. We will put no fortifications here, host no special forces here, or organize any specialized troop formations here. All Ares and Anmor will see from the backs of their dragons is a standard patrol moving along a preset path. This I will ensure." Aquel said solidly.

"I'm curious, does Isaac talk much of Hyrule? Does he bring much information in from his espionage?" Onta asked, not realizing how far he was shifting the conversation.

"He has told me many things, and I can relay them to you now. He has told me of a steady yet controlled logging of the Kokiri Forest, the wood being used as fuel for smelting plants which have been built on the side of Death Mountain. The trees are being slowly thinned out, but not overtly destroyed. He says that the trees that were burned in the fires of the initial Iresian invasion have since been replanted in order to provide future fuel. Hyrule field is still a productive series of farmlands, but now Ares and Anmor take what is not necessary to feed the populace. He has also mentioned water being siphoned off of the Zora's river in moderate amounts. Hyrule Castle remains intact, but Sirpala has been missing since the initial invasion and the Castle now serves as Anmor's throne and seat of power instead. More and more great mines and factories have been built on, in, and around Death Mountain as Ares' lust for material ore grows. The Hylian workers are paid subsistence wages, and the Gorons are paid nothing at all save the rocks they are allowed to eat." Aquel finished.

"It sounds as if Ares and Anmor are sucking the vitality and resources out of Hyrule at a steady pace. All I can do is be thankful that he hasn't ravaged the land and killed thousands. Is there any word of my people?" Ruru asked.

"Isaac has told me that the Gerudos have been slipping away from Hyrule at a steady pace for many years now. They've been slowly fleeing and escaping from under Ares' watchful eye. Isaac says that nobody within Iress or Ares' Empire have any idea where they might be going, but the palace is beginning to fall into disrepair as fewer and fewer Gerudos are inhabiting it each year."

"A part of me is proud, Q'Diri must have taken up temporary Eldership when I left, and she must be leading them slowly to safety. If I ever see her again, I will have to tell her how happy I am that she has been so successful." Ruru said, a warm smile now on her face.

"There is one more item of relevance I should mention. You are familiar with the ancient Elemental Temples of Hyrule, those which used to house the Six Medallions?" Aquel asked.

"Yes of course! I made a pilgrimage to the Spirit Temple when it was decided that I should be apprenticed to my sister. The Temples were places of mystery and great holiness." Ruru said.

"Well, they were thoroughly demolished when Ares began searching for you and your piece of the Triforce. He tore them all down brick by brick trying to find you, and now because of this elemental magic has been running wild all throughout Hyrule. Fires, floods, sandstorms, and all other manners of natural disasters have become terribly frequent, and Ares and Anmor do little to provide relief efforts to the citizens. Monsters have become much more frequent, but the Iresian troops will slaughter them on sight so they have not been a major problem. The general magical atmosphere of Hyrule has become harsh and dangerous as time passed, and there has been nothing done about it." Aquel said.

Ruru felt rage quiver in her throat. "How dare he destroy such sacred relics! Is he even aware of the imbalance he has inflicted upon my lands? The only solution left may be completing the Triforce myself and using it to restore balance to the chaotic energies."

"There is nothing left that I haven't relayed to you now, so if you don't mind I should be going." Aquel said, nervousness obvious on his young face in front of Ruru's anger.

"Very well, but be sure to bring me the news as soon as you receive it!" Ruru replied, gaining control over her indignation.

Aquel picked up his cloak and put it on over his head. "I'll try and come again in three days, after the assassination! Until then." He said, and ducked out.

Ruru sighed, her feelings mixed as she contemplated the new fate of her homeland. She sat and ate a few more mouthfuls of fruit, and when she was satisfied she turned back to face her mural. The brush felt especially heavy in her hand when she picked up and began painting once more.

**Chapter X – J6**

"The last of the rations are on board now." Jenna said, wiping the sweat off of her brow as she walked across the deck of the Lemurian Ship toward Piers.

Piers nodded in acknowledgement. "We should be ready to set out just as soon as Felix gets his dawdling behind down here and on the ship."

Jenna grinned and walked up to stand beside Piers as they looked at the stone of the caves in front of them. The boat rose and fell gently as the tide flowed in and out of the caves underneath the island, and the soothing rush of the water against the stone echoed deeply throughout the caverns. The strong smell of brine was only matched by the odor of the old and slimy seaweed that covered the worn waterline on the cave walls. A few other Lemurians were still hauling some last minute items on board the ship, but they would leave soon enough, this was a journey that only Jenna, Felix and Piers would take. Any more than that, and they stood the risk of being detected by Ares.

"The few leaks in the middle decks have been patched, you should have totally smooth sailing for many months." One of the Lemurian citizens said, striding up behind them.

"Thank you. Have you seen Felix by any chance?" Piers asked.

"I'm here!" Felix's voice called out from the left of the bow.

Jenna and Piers walked over to see Felix running along the crumbled docks and toward the gangplank. He was carrying his old knapsack, the same kind they used to carry on their old adventures when they needed to keep plenty of items and supplies. It was stuffed full and had various items sticking out of the top where it was precariously buttoned closed. Felix made his way up the gangplank, his pack making rattling and clinking sounds with each step.

'We've already gotten all our necessary supplies squared away in the lower decks!" Jenna said in a mildly irritated tone.

"But, just in case we have to enter a battle, I've brought these!" Felix said, and produced Jenna's old Masamune sword, Piers' Excalibur Sword, and his own Sol Blade.

"It's been years since I've felt the handle of the blade in my hands." Piers said, taking Excalibur still in its sheath. He pulled it out and the proud sword shone brightly for a moment in the low light of the caverns.

Jenna took the Masamune Sword and it felt heavy in her grip, which told her she was out of practice now. The countless years she had spent lazing in Lemuria must have gotten her out of shape, and she knew she had to practice once more. She felt she owed it to the beautiful blade in her hands.

"I've also got all our old battle supplies, waters of life, mist potions, and psynergy stones. Should we have to fight, we will be ready." Felix said, putting the Sol Blade away.

"Shall we shove off then?" Piers asked, and Jenna and Felix nodded.

"All ashore that's staying ashore!" Piers shouted, and the few straggling Lemurians quickly ran over to the Gangplank and walked down to the docks. Once there they brought the gangplank down and began untying the riggings that held the ship in the dock.

"I've got the anchor!" Felix shouted, running across the deck toward a large wheel with wooden rungs.

As soon as all the ropes had been untied and the anchor raised, the rest of Jenna's group of friends emerged from the stairs that lead to the island's surface. Garet, Ivan, Mia, Sheba and Kraden all waved a hearty goodbye as the freshly painted Lemurian ship slowly came free of the dock. Jenna waved back to her friends and continued doing so until the ship drifted around a corner and they were cut off from view. The powerof the magic Lemurian stone pushed the ship through the winding caves slowly and cautiously, and once they saw sunlight streaming through the cave opening in front of them, Piers increased their speed significantly. The ship emerged into the brightly lit space inside Lemuria's fog and storm clouds. The sunlight still shone through the clouds brightly, but Jenna was eager to see the sun directly for the first time in years. The ship swiftly ploughed the waves, heading away from the Lemurian island and toward the fog and storm enshrouded reefs that surrounded it.

"Get ready, the currents will be just as violent as you remember!" Piers said as they came closer and closer to the reefs.

When they rounded the first rocky outcropping and entered the clouds of fog, the ship lurched sickeningly immediately. The boat was blasted forward into a great whirling maelstrom in the seas, and the deck rocked like an Earthquake were occurring. Piers and Felix gripped the wheel like animals, using every muscle in their bodies to maintain course. The ship twirled three times in a whirlpool and then was grabbed up by another current which swept them dangerously close to another rocky reef. Piers and Felix grunted in exertion as they turned the wheel, and the ship tilted to resist the current. They pulled out of it a few moments before crashing into the rocks only to enter another, which was even faster than the first. Rain began to pour down on them as they neared the center of the reefs, and a few flashes of lightning overhead illuminated the thick, soup-like fog.

They rode the current past the wrecked remains of a different ship. It was not Lemurian, and it had tattered sails and a jolly roger painted on its ruined side. This almost made Jenna think about the one time she had fought that beast Deadbeard, but her mind was still occupied with the situation at hand. The current carried them past the wreck swiftly and into another spinning whirlpool.

"Hold fast!" Piers shouted, his face beet red with exertion as he held the ship's wheel in place.

The ship was spun wildly around several more times before breaking free into a zone of relatively calm waters. Felix let go of the wheel and gasped for breath, his face equally flushed. Lightning cracked the sky above them, and yet the thunder that followed seemed awfully quiet. None of them noticed, the gushing currents all around them were hypnotic and had caught their attention. Jenna was staring at the whirlpool they had just escaped. She wondered what was causing it, and appreciated again the protection that its kind was providing for Lemuria. It explained to her why Ares had yet to discover their sanctuary. After a few more minutes of resting, Felix and Piers gripped the wheel again and steered into another current that they would need to navigate.

Jenna had never been seasick before in all her past encounters with the sea, even when she and her party had first came through these currents to reach Lemuria for the first time. When she felt the nausea creeping into her stomach as the boat heaved underneath her, she took it as a sign of the invisible age she had been accumulating in Lemuria. She did not look it, but she was really middle-aged now, and her difficulty with her sword and seasickness made it painfully obvious to her. As she watched Felix and Piers strain to keep the wheel steady, she realized that now was a gift, and she needed to take advantage of the extra years she had been given by the time dilating effects of Lemuria. Her body was technically still in its prime, and she knew now she had to tone it again while she had the chance.

Once the fog began to clear, the current carrying them began to slow. Large rocky outcroppings rose from the mists ahead, and the current pulled them toward the space in between. Bright light filtered through the clouds and fog, making it look like a heavenly passage as they neared it. When they passed between the two massive stones, real and unfettered sunlight shone down at them from above, and the current carrying them slowed to a halt as it dispersed into the open sea.

Jenna looked up at the sky for the first time in many uncounted years. The sunlight temporarily blinded her and she had to cover her eyes, but the glimpse of the deep, beautiful blue she had managed caused her heart to beat anew with excitement and nostalgia. It was many shades deeper than how she had remembered it. Though it was true she had still seen sunlight in the fogged Lemurian skies, it was nothing compared to the potent rays that were shining down on her now. They warmed her skin as she stood there and allowed her eyes to adjust.

Once Jenna's eyes finished adjusting to the light, she soon found herself staring at something else in the sky. What appeared to be a thick ribbon of blackness traversed the southern sky, ascending and descending over the southern horizon in a curve, almost giving the impression of a thunderstorm lurking many miles in the distance. Jenna squinted as hard as she could, but the distance and humidity distorted and obscured it. She was about to call for a spyglass when something else caught her attention.

A hailing whistle sounded hardly a half-mile away from the starboard side of their ship. Jenna whipped her head around to look and saw an entirely metal ship cutting through the waves and approaching them at a fair clip. Jenna had never seen a ship like it before, it appeared to be made entirely of metal instead of just armor plates. It had a single tower in its center with glass windows on the top and several thin metal spires tipping it. Massive cannons were mounted on its in two groups of four, and they were pointing directly at Jenna and her ship. Each barrel must have been at least a foot in diameter from what Jenna could see to estimate, it caused her blood to run ice cold. Most frighteningly of all, it was flying a flag with three crossed bloody swords. Jenna remembered back to the metal vehicles which had carried Ares and his Acolytes, they too had bore this symbol. As she stared at the gigantic cannons on top of Ares' ship, she wondered intensely why they had not fired yet. The hailing whistle sounded again, and Jenna's blood quickened as the ship got closer and closer.

"Just our luck that we'd be discovered as soon as we exited the fog." Felix said with futility ringing in his tone.

"What are we going to do?" Jenna asked, almost a whisper.

"I won't lead them back toward Lemuria!" Piers said stoically. "Despite my banishment, my heart lies with my people and I will not cause their deaths or imprisonment. I do not know of any other way to escape, so we must stand and fight!"

Jenna grabbed her Masamune sword again and frowned. "They aren't firing their cannons at us, it's making me nervous." She said, gripping the hilt tightly.

"They're going to come about on our starboard side, if we're going to fight them we should stand there and be ready!" Piers said, drawing his Excalibur sword.

"Right!" Felix and Jenna said.

The three of them hurried over to the starboard side as the metal ship came dangerously close and began turning to face them. Felix unlocked the hauling wheel for the anchor along the way and it spun madly until the anchor hit the bottom. The hailing whistle sounded again as the metal ship finished turning to face them, displaying the three swords painted on its side. Jenna gripped her sword more tightly. The metal ship came to a stop just a few feet away, it had closed the distance at a remarkable speed and stood there silently next to them. Jenna, Felix and Piers looked up at the top of its deck, which was at least seven feet higher than them. When the sound of footsteps was heard from above, Jenna expected to see a pack of Acolytes to appear and attack, but instead a lone human-looking woman poked her head over the rim and spoke.

"Hello! Hello down there! Can you help me?" she shouted.

"Why should we? You sail under the flag of Ares!" Felix shouted back.

"You must let me explain! I've stolen this ship from one of his ports and I've been on the run for weeks since!" she replied.

Jenna exchanged glances with Felix and Piers, who both looked extremely suspicious. "Why should we trust you?" She shouted.

"You have to! I'm running low on food and water, and being alone for so long is driving me mad!" the woman shouted back, desperation in her voice.

Jenna looked over at Felix again, and his face was twisted in thought. "What do you think?" He asked quietly.

"From what I remember, Ares and his minions were powerful, so much so that he could kill us in an eye blink if so he wished. Either this woman is telling us the truth, or Ares is playing a malicious game with us." Jenna said to Felix equally quietly.

Felix nodded. "All right, you can come down, but don't bring any weapons with you!" he shouted.

The unknown woman ducked back out of view for a moment and then reappeared with a rope ladder, which she tossed down and began to climb. Jenna observed her when she stepped onto the wooden deck of her ship. Her skin was a deep reddish brown, as if she had spent her life living in harsh sunlight. She had dark orange hair that was bound in an extremely thick ponytail which hung past her waist and was held in place by a golden clip with an extremely large ruby set in it. She wore extremely large pants that looked like half inflated bags covering her legs and a strip of a top that had geometric patterns on it. An empty scabbard was tied to her back, and she was wearing an odd looking metal collar around her neck. When she turned and Jenna got a look at her face, her blood raced even faster. There was another symbol on the woman's forehead, a circle with curved spines sticking out. That symbol was the same one that had adorned Ares' skull, and the woman's eyes were just as red as his. Her slender and flexible form moved like a serpent's, suggesting physical grace and poise. She looked at them as one who had just came back from a five week pilgrimage to Mt. Aleph's Peak.

"Thank you for hearing me out! My name is Kalana and I've-"

Piers interrupted her, saying "Why do you have that symbol on your head, and why are your eyes as red as Ares himself?"

"I can explain! Just listen!" Kalana said, nervously looking down at the Excalibur sword in Piers' hands. "I was captured by Ares and forced into his servitude. He marked me on my forehead plainly as you can see, it is a symbol of my imprisonment. I became an officer in his navy, and I've been waiting for years for an opportunity to escape. I was working on board one of his freighter ships one day when this opportunity arose. The ship was docked in port when a mysterious explosion rocked the area, destroying practically everything. Almost all of the Acolytes were killed, so I took the chance to commandeer one of the few ships undamaged by the explosion, this warship." She said, pointing up at the metal ship she had climbed down from. "I've been on the run since."

"So what do you want us to do?" Felix asked, now with skepticism.

"Let me travel with you! Your ship is far more inconspicuous than mine, and you know much more about these waters than I do! I only ever sailed freighters along set trade routes, I've never been out in these distant seas." Kalana said, almost begging.

Felix grabbed Jenna's shoulder and walked her away from Kalana. "Should we trust her?" He whispered.

Jenna's mind was slightly conflicted. She remembered that when Isaac fought with Ares, Ares had played with him like a toy, tormenting him for minutes on end and vastly enjoying it. She wouldn't put it past him to set up an elaborate act like this, but at the same time she found Kalana to feel very sincere. She knew that it was dangerous to play any of Ares' games, but she also felt a great lump of doubt forming in her stomach, and she was still too kind to turn away someone in need who might genuinely need it.

"Who's to say that there isn't a horde of Acolytes still sitting in wait on her ship?" Felix added.

"Listen, I think she's being sincere. I've got a gut feeling about it. But, we shouldn't blindly trust her either. We shouldn't let her go back onto her ship if she wants to come with us." Jenna whispered.

Felix scratched his chin, and then nodded slightly. "Good idea." He said.

The two of them walked back to where Piers was about to strike up a conversation with Kalana. Kalana looked at them with what appeared to be honest fear and anxiety in her eyes, but Jenna could also see inner strength hidden underneath a veil of weakness.

"We'll let you come with us under one condition." Felix said assertively.

"Name it!" Kalana said, excitement now evident in her voice.

"You cannot go back to your metal ship, not for anything. If you wish to sail with us, you must do so right now without hesitation or returning to your ship." Felix finished.

"You've got it!" Kalana said without pause. "Now please, tell me your names! I want to get to know you!"

"Keep your shirt on! You'll have many weeks to get to know us, we're going to be out sailing for a long time and you'll be able to ask us all the questions you want." Piers said in reaction to Kalana's exuberance.

"Yes, and we should probably get started." Jenna said. "I'll weigh the anchor again Felix, you head back to the helm."

It was almost as if the entire ordeal hadn't happened as Jenna slowly cranked the wheel to lift the anchor from the bottom. Kalana had followed Felix off to the helm, and Piers had gone belowdecks to recheck whether their supplies were still properly squared away. She was in a very mild shock that nothing unfortunate had happened. She fully expected the Acolytes to start attacking from nowhere at any moment, but they still didn't come even as the anchor finally came to rest hanging in its starboard port. When their Lemurian ship began to move, and Kalana's metal ship fell away from them, it made Jenna think that perhaps her hunch had been correct. But she knew that they might have to do a bit of rationing, as they had only packed supplies enough for three people. At any rate, she was grateful that she had proven to be a much better judge of character than she had originally thought.

A/N: I must thank you guys for helping me catch the stupid errors in the last chapter. Hopefully this one will be a bit better, though there might still be one or two floating around after having eluded my checking. The fact that you guys help me to improve myself like this is much appreciated!


	17. Part II: Resurrection Chunk 4

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: I bet you're expecting my to apologize for taking so long again. Well I'm not! I think you guys have come to expect my slowness at this point, so there's no need to keep repeating myself. At any rate, this chunk did take long, but there's an explanation for that: this chunk is a record shattering 27 pages! Hope you guys have plenty of coffee with you, 'cause this is going to be a long read!

**_Part II - Resurrection_**

**Chapter XI – T13**

Tanis crossed his arms impatiently and frowned. The humans who lived in this colony certainly hadn't been very polite in the short time he had known them so far. He, Shakara and Ashley had been escorted down into some sort of military complex on the underground city's outskirts, and now he and Shakara were being forced to wait while the leader of these humans met with Ashley in private. He and Shakara stood in the dimly lit hallway amidst a horde of armed guards, doing their best not to show how uncomfortable they were feeling.

The concrete of the wall was rough against Tanis' back and the smell of sterility filled the air. He heard the human guards shift in place as they stood and watched them, and a great feeling of awkwardness gripped Tanis firmly. He smiled as best as he could and carried on.

Shakara began twitching her tail across the floor, and as the blade scraped across the concrete it made a very irritating grinding noise. She did it painfully slowly as well, taking time enough for each stroke and only giving a slight moment of silence before moving it across the stone again. Tanis couldn't help but gnash his teeth and hold in his emotions lest he embarrass himself in front of the humans. He tried to concentrate on other sounds, like the soft and deep humming that was emanating the narrow corridors of the building. He tried to imagine what kind of unknown, forbidden machine was making it, and his imagination painted dark pictures of rumbling furnaces and unknown drilling mechanisms. He was still unwilling to use a drop of his powers lest the Acolytes detect him, but boredom affected him just as much as it did his father. As the grinding of Shakara's tail blade began to move in time with the pulses of the humming in the building, the solitude was broken by the creaking of rusty metal hinges. Tanis turned to see Ashley re-emerging from the room where she had met with the other humans.

"They're ready to talk to you now." She said calmly.

Tanis tried to read any emotions on Ashley's face. She obviously wasn't worried or otherwise rattled, so the men hadn't treated her badly. He wondered if the same would be true for him as he squeezed past her in the narrow hall to get to the door. Before he turned to look inside, Tanis caught a glimpse of her winking at him, and he felt a smile touch his face, something that hadn't happened in an uncounted number of years. He winked back at her and turned while taking a deep breath of anticipation.

The room Tanis saw was also bare concrete with no ornamentation, just like the hallways he had came from. In the center of the room stood a plain steel table with three important looking humans sitting facing Tanis. The man on the left was the same brown-eyed man who had first taken his helmet off when they had encountered each other. Sitting in the center was a man of many years whose mouth was adorned with an unlit, half burned cigar. On the right sat a younger man with an equally militaristic crew cut, this time with blonde hair, and what appeared to be an electronic visor over his left eye. They all looked up at Tanis' tall form with uncomfortable expressions, and then the center man gestured for Tanis to sit down in the chair facing them. The heavy steel door creaked on its rusted out hinges as it shut behind him.

"So, you say that you're part of a resistance eh?" The older man in the center asked, the cigar in his mouth causing him to slur his words a bit. His voice sounded craggy and aged.

"Yes." Tanis replied curtly. "I was captured and forced into a stasis tube over forty years ago, and now I am seeking a way to strike back at Ares and his minions."

"I see. And what of your friend who bears his symbol on her head?" The elder man asked.

"We found her in a ruined and abandoned laboratory, she is undoubtedly his creation. But, she was not brainwashed like so many of his servants were, and she most definitely feels a tangible hatred towards him." Tanis said.

The older man rubbed his chin with his wrinkled, stony hands and thought to himself. Tanis dared not try reading his thoughts, these humans obviously had technology for countering psychic abilities.

"Your human friend told me quite a lot about you. She said that you were an honest, respectable, polite, and noble person. She had fewer kind things to say about the other in your party. Tell me, what is your name?" the man asked, sitting up straighter and removing the cigar from his mouth.

"Tanis."

"I am General Roger R. Wells, the leader of this band of rebels." The man said, and extended his cracked hand to Tanis.

Tanis took the general's hand in his own, the calluses were rough and rigid, but the warmth of life flowed beneath them The five fingers gripped Tanis' own three firmly but respectfully, hinting at inner strength but not brutishness. Tanis applied a bit of his own pressure as well, wanting to give the same impression.

"You've already met my top Major, John Morrison." The General said, gesturing toward the brown eyed man to his left. John nodded tersely. "This is Marcos Randall, one of our techies down from the bottom sectors who also does some agent work for us up on the surface. He wanted to meet you in person."

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Tanis said politely. Marcos grinned widely.

"Let me get down to business." The General said, putting the cigar back in his mouth. "You and your three friends managed to bypass our security systems, elude most of our patrols, and then use your psychic abilities inside our city despite the psionic blockers we have in place. I want to know how."

"Shakara, Ashley and I were fleeing from the Acolytes. We had just crashed and destroyed one of Ares' small ships, and we had needed cover, so we fled to a human town that was nearby. When Ares' ships began coming in to investigate, we picked a random building which turned out to be an industrial facility of some sort complete with a mine shaft. We went down into the mines and hid there for a short amount of time before the shaft began to collapse. We were caught in an avalanche of rocks and found ourselves inside one of your storage rooms. When we explored, we ran into one of your people and then you know the rest of the events as they followed."

"Alright, that makes sense I suppose." Marcos suddenly said. "If the people up above have been drilling, they definitely could have came close enough for a collapse like that to happen. But what you didn't answer is how you could still use your powers when the blockers were active?"

"I…don't know." Tanis said frankly. Marcos looked puzzled and the General looked extremely worried.

"Well, we know the sense fields were still working properly. If the Acolytes were chasing you, they would have sensed your using your abilities against us if the sense fields hadn't been functioning." Marcos continued.

"So that's why they didn't find us!" Tanis said, understanding suddenly.

"Marcos, the real issue is this though. This could mean a fluctuation or even a momentary failure occurred within the psionic blocking system. In the event that we are discovered and attacked, that could mean that the Acolytes could storm in and burn our entire city to the ground with a few simple psychic attacks." The General said.

"I realize that, and you can be assured that I will personally analyze the blockers immediately." Marcos said determinedly.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have a few questions as well." Tanis said softly.

"Go ahead." The General said calmly. "As far as I see, there is no more reason to distrust you. Though Ares loves playing his games, he would have sprung his trap long ago if you were one of his spies. He's too brutally impatient and unsubtle to play a game out this long."

"I appreciate your trust. Does this mean that my friends and I can stay here for a few days to get our plans and preparations in order?" Tanis said as graciously as he could.

"Certainly. However, you will have to stay out of the public eye. Your appearances would frighten anyone here who does not know you or know of you. I hope you understand." The General replied.

"Of course, that is very reasonable. I cannot understate how grateful I am for you letting us stay." Tanis said as the General stood.

"Major Morrison, you haven't said much, why don't you show our friends to a suitable lodging?" The General asked of the nervous looking man to his left.

"Yes Sir." John said, his voice sounding a bit shaky.

"I'm going to go to a meeting with the rest of my officers Tanis, so you won't be able to contact me unless it is something seriously urgent. If you have any problems or questions, ask the Major here. I have utmost faith in his abilities to accommodate you." The General finished, and all four of them filed out of the cramped room together.

"How did it go?" Ashley asked with both anxiety and eagerness on her face.

"They're going to give us a place to stay and food for a few days until we have a plan." Tanis said, smiling as stress began to filter out of his system.

"Ah, food sounds great!" Ashley said in a louder voice. "I hadn't realized it earlier, but my stomach is roaring for something to chew on!"

"I'll bring you all some food after I show you to your rooms." John said, coming up behind Tanis.

Tanis smiled and nodded. When he thought about it, he realized that he was famished as well, but his mind had been distracted by all the harrowing experiences he had gone through since being freed from the pod. His stomach too began to emit rumbling sounds as he followed John through more nondescript concrete halls.

Passing out of the bunker-like military complex where they had been, Tanis got a good look at the human city around them. The grungy grey buildings rose from the cave floors like cubic stalagmites, and greasy yellow lights glowed in their curtained windows. The streets were empty save for men in military uniforms, Tanis theorized that perhaps it was night for the people who lived here and that things had settled down after the alarms. A few steel poles jutted sparsely amongst the drab skyline, lights and silent alarm horns hanging off of their tops. A few vehicles sat empty in a similar pattern of a sporadic nature.

The pathway that John led them on trailed away from the main part of the city and close to one of the cave walls. Not too far ahead was a squat cluster of buildings not unlike the others without any lights on inside. The cave wall sloped upward behind it and more steel stairs and catwalks climbed the face of the wall. The dim overhead light from the fixture on the cave's ceiling cast eerily slanted shadows everywhere.

John showed them inside the closest of the darkened buildings, where they were met with a pitch black hallway. He flipped on the lights and Tanis saw rows of about four doors each on both sides of the hallway, each with numbers posted on them. The hall ended after about 30 feet.

"You can stay in any of these rooms." John said, gesturing forward.

Tanis stepped forward and laid his hands on the door nearest on the left side, marked with the number one. "I'll take this one." He said simply.

Ashley immediately took the room across from Tanis', and Shakara walked all the way down to the end of the hallway to get a room as far away from them as possible. Tanis could only shake his head and sigh as John tossed her a key and she promptly disappeared behind the door. He smiled at John when he brought him the key, but John could only smile weakly back. He still looked nervous, quite opposite of how bold he had acted when they had first met eye to eye.

"There is a holo-tv in your room as well as a computer, so feel free to use them. What kind of food can I bring you?" John asked.

"I don't care, as long as it's in bite-sized pieces!" Tanis said eagerly.

"I'll have some steak if you've got any!" Ashley said, taking her room key.

"Alright, I'll try to be back within half an hour with your food." John said, and shakily turned to leave. Tanis couldn't help but wonder where all of his confidence had gone.

The room Tanis had been given was obviously designed to accommodate humans, but he was getting used to sitting in human shaped chairs and laying in human shaped beds now. He settled into his new surroundings quickly, not bothering with the holo-tv whatsoever. What he was more interested in was the computer, which had access to a complete history of the humans who had built this colony. It seemed like he had only scratched the surface of the written history when John returned with the food.

Apparently Shakara had wanted to remain solitary even during mealtime, so Tanis sat with Ashley at a table in his room. John had gone to another room to stay so that they could find him if they needed anything.

"So what's your impression on this place?" Ashley asked in between bites of her steak.

Tanis finished chewing on the bit of fruit he was eating before speaking. "These humans have honest hearts, but they are also hardened warriors. I feel as if we can trust them, but we shouldn't do anything suspicious in their midst. If we abuse their trust, we could be banished or even openly attacked."

Ashley nodded. "When I was in talking to them, they offered me a tour of some of their facilities. They told me that they've been developing technology to counter the psychic abilities of Ares and his Acolytes, and that they had just recently sent out an attack force to challenge him."

Tanis felt his stomach turn in sudden worry. "I hope they know what they're doing, if anything Ares will be much more powerful than he was when we knew him those many years ago."

"They're confident that they can put a good dent in his empire at the very least." Ashley said, taking a drink of soda that had been provided.

"Do you think they're responsible for the devastation of that lab where we found Shakara?" Tanis asked.

"I'm certain of it, who else could do it at this point? According to that General, Ares has complete control of the human population, not many people are left to resist. It's not good for survival."

Tanis could only nod. "Are you going to go on the tour?"

"Yes, but only if I can convince them to let you go with us!" Ashley said, her stubbornness showing through.

Tanis smiled a bit. "You know, there's a reason they don't want someone of my species walking around their city, even with my different colored skin and symbols, they're used to seeing Acolytes, and having an enemy that deadly ingrains some instinctive fear."

"Still, you're an ally and a guest! There should be accommodations made!" Ashley said stoically.

"Whatever you say, I just don't want to abuse our hosts' hospitality." Tanis said, still smiling about how headstrong Ashley could be.

**Chapter XII – A13**

Ashley awoke from her nightmare with a choked yelp. She panted like a dog and felt sweat drip off of her brow. The image of Tanis's demise still splayed violently in her mind, and as she faded back into reality, the cool air conditioning soothed her overheated body.

Ashley threw the covers off of her and sat up. The little room that the rebels had given her was still dark, but since they were living underground, that was expected. A dull orange light seeped through the blinds hanging over the single window, and that same low, mechanical hum filled her ears. She reached down and felt for her backpack and sighed when she found it right where she had put it. Once she had a firm grasp on reality and had swept the dream away, Ashley stood and flipped on the light switch. As the lights flooded on with a clean white hue, she sighed and picked up her backpack.

The bathroom in Ashley's room was totally clean and sterile; it appeared as though no-one had ever used it since its construction. She set her backpack down and opened it to look through her things. Everything was where she had left it; she pulled out her toothbrush and toothpaste and proceeded to brush her teeth. She stared at her reflection in the glass as she let the cleansing foam clean the inner corners of her mouth. She noticed how greasy her hair had become, and there were even more knots in it than before. She hated having to brush it, and rarely did so, but she knew that she would have to soon. All the other people she had seen in this colony were shabby looking, but she felt that they weren't worse off than her.

Spitting out the toothpaste, Ashley found herself contemplating the other items in her backpack. Apparently the stasis field in her pod had perfectly preserved all her provisions, fruits she had picked not long before meeting Tanis were still juicy and ripe, not a sign of age marked their skin. A thought then struck her like a train, what if the field hadn't affected her Pokemon team? Ashley scrambled to open the trainer's pouch and pulled out the Master Ball that contained her Charizard named Ifrit. She ran out into the main room and tossed it to the ground. Ifrit emerged from the red glow perfectly unharmed and unchanged, it laid snoozing on the rug contently, a little grin on its face. Ashley took a deep sigh of relief and felt her pounding heart begin to calm again. It would take a few minutes to let all the adrenaline play its course after that thought, she grinned and smiled at Ifrit. It was classic Charizard behavior.

Ashley returned Ifrit to its ball, knowing that it would probably want food later. She returned to the bathroom and finished cleaning herself up before picking up the dreaded hairbrush. She took it back to her bed and sat down to start working the knots out. She noticed that the clock sitting on the night side stand read 8:34 AM, and wondered whether Tanis and Shakara were up yet. She frowned when she thought of Shakara, looking down at the hole that she had cut in her jeans. That would need a new patch soon.

Every follicle in Ashley's scalp cried in protest as she slowly and painfully ripped the brush through her two feet of unkempt black hair. The knots were putting up quite a fight, and every hair that was pulled out made Ashley cringe and mumble curse words under her breath. She sat on her still unmade bed and battled with her hair in this manner for nearly fifteen minutes before something caught her attention.

A deep, resonant thumping echoed through the building coming from across the entrance hallway in Tanis' room. It soon was joined by an electronic humming and other multiple indistinct tones. Ashley set her brush down, walked over to her room's front door and opened it. The sound was even stronger out in the main hallway, and the thumping gave a distinct feeling of a musical beat as it pounded from behind the door to Tanis' room. Ashley knocked on his door, but he didn't answer. She sighed and opened the door, hoping Tanis wouldn't mind her barging in.

The music blasted Ashley with full force as she entered Tanis' room. A richly multilayered techno song pulsed through the air, its melodic pattern jagged and monotonous, yet strangely exciting and electric. It made Ashley's blood pump faster, as if she were feeling the adrenaline surge caused by a battle, but it also gave her a distinctly digital feel.

Tanis was sitting over in the corner of the room in front of a glowing holo computer screen. His eyes were closed and he was bobbing his head to the rhythm with a grin that was mixed with a look of concentration. His right paw was touching the console and glowing slightly orange. As Ashley approached behind him, the music shifted. The beat quieted down for a moment, leaving pure electronic tones, making Ashley feel as if she were standing in the heart of a computer. By the time she was standing directly behind Tanis the tones had multilayered themselves enough to make Ashley imagine hundreds of motes of multicolored light flowing through circuits around her. The holo screen in front of Tanis' closed eyes was playing a visualization program that swam with complex fractals with a tab along the top that read "Decoding…Playing…Recording" in a scrolling marquee. Ashley didn't pay much attention to the 3D fractal program however; her own visualizations of the song were much more fascinating to her.

When Ashley laid a hand on Tanis' shoulder the song quieted for a moment, and his grin turned into a subtler, wry smile. Ashley could feel the energy pulsing to the beat in him, it was a sensation she found beyond description. The song sprang to life anew and suddenly Ashley felt energy all around her. Tanis' sight became hers, his emotions hers, and his energy hers. She saw Tanis' thoughts flowing into the machine, words and images becoming ones and zeroes. The images were that of the past, their encounters with Ares and his Acolytes, the chase through the human city, and others that passed too quickly for her to comprehend. They all entered the machine, becoming data and then sound. The excitement of battle was pouring into the song that was currently playing. Ashley understood what Tanis was doing now, but she still held onto his shoulder, unwilling to give up the experience she was sharing with him. The sensation of Tanis' thoughts beating in harmony with the music electrified her mind and soul, and she couldn't help but imagine the brilliant patterns of circuitry around her and inside her. As she did, her thoughts passed through Tanis and into the machine, and the music's melody changed to a different tone and rhythm. Ashley could now truly see the pulses of electricity all around her as Tanis' energy brought her imagination to life, the music pulsed around her like a warm blanket as her consciousness seemed to digitize, and Ashley no longer could sense or care about the real world around her. The original melody that had played when Tanis was in control suddenly returned again, but it did not push Ashley's unique melody out, rather seemed to synchronize with it perfectly. The two melodies seemed to dance together and interlock perfectly, and Tanis' glowing form appeared in Ashley's vision. They held each other's hands and the glowing electric pulses swirled around them as the music harmonized. Together they tumbled into electric oblivion, spiraling through unreality and yet at the same time, not moving from the spots they had occupied in the first place. The world had completely vanished for them, they were one with each other's imaginations.

Reality broke through startlingly when Ashley felt a clawed, three fingered paw on her shoulder. Suddenly the energies around her shifted, the vision she was having faded, and thoughts filled with anger, violence and despair flooded through her, then through Tanis, and down into the computer. The song completely transformed, a woman's voice sang woefully in a language Ashley didn't understand, and the sad keystrokes of a piano and orchestration accompanied. Images of Shakara slaying humans with the blades on her tail amongst the smoking ruin of a city passed through Ashley's mind. She felt fear and anger, and in the background Shakara's voice whispered "Why?"

Suddenly all of these thoughts and feelings, the energy, and the song, all halted all at once. Ashley's vision returned to normal, and she saw that Tanis had removed his hand from the computer, the fractal program had frozen in place, and "signal input lost" was scrolling across the marquee. Ashley turned around and looked at Shakara, whose normally hard expression seemed softer now.

"He made me do terrible things, he trained me to kill even when my opponent was on his knees and begging for mercy, and the only reason he gave me was that it was for the protection of our happiness. I didn't want to do what I did, but he told me that it was either kill or be killed, so I killed." Shakara said, her voice quiet but unbreaking, despite her expression.

Tanis stood, but before he could say anything, Shakara continued. "I realize that I've been unfriendly and distant, and I wanted to show you why without using words. Even now I am ashamed of the crest I bear upon my head, and the mark engrained upon my back."

"I know how you feel." Tanis began, but Shakara cut him off before he could talk further.

"How is that? You've lived a comfortable life without ever facing up to a problem until now." Shakara said sharply.

"How would you know that?" Tanis said, his feelings obviously hurt. "I had to sacrifice an entire city of people in an attempt to stop your father's conquest, and it all turned out to be in vain anyway!"

Shakara suddenly looked down at her feet like a scolded child. "I'm sorry, my father always told me you were a coward who ran away from your problems. I should have known that was a lie after finding out he had not killed you either."

"Well, listen up. I understand and forgive you, but I think it's Ashley you really owe the apology to. You treated her a lot worse than me." Tanis said, gesturing toward Ashley.

Shakara turned to Ashley, first showing mixed emotions, then smiling. "Let my actions speak louder than words." She said, and then reached down to touch the hole in Ashley's jeans. Her paw glowed a soft red for a moment, and when Shakara pulled it back, the hole was gone.

Ashley returned the smile. "You know, these jeans have been in my family for years. Look here"

Ashley pointed down at a patch on her jeans located near her right hip. It was green colored, worn, and had a picture of a blade. "This one's from a when a wild Scyther attacked my dad."

Ashley pointed at another patch, this one blue with a picture of a fishing rod on it. "This one's from when my mom hooked him with her fishing rod after he told her he still couldn't afford to buy her a new bike." She said, grinning at the memory.

"Quite an odd thing to have as an heirloom, a pair of pants." Tanis said, chuckling.

All three of them turned their heads in unison to look when the sound of the outer door opening echoed into the room. John poked his head around the corner.

"I've got breakfast ready for you guys." He said, showing a tray with four full paper bags.

They all gathered around the table in Tanis' room and John slid them each a bagful of food. He then began inching toward the door, but Ashley caught him.

"Where are you going? Why don't you eat with us?"

"Well…you see…umm…" John mumbled.

"It's alright, you don't need to feel uncomfortable around us." Shakara said suddenly, gesturing to herself and Tanis. "We're a lot more amicable than my father and his cronies."

Ashley reached into her bag and pulled out a tray of freshly fried bacon. A wide grin spread across her face as she smelled the hickory smoked flavor coming off them. Reaching in further she found a sliced banana and a stack of pre-prepared pancakes all in their own containers. As she opened it all and ate it, she found that it tasted better than anything her dad had made for her in the past.

"John, this is fabulous! How did you cook it?" Ashley asked.

"Just the old fashioned method, electric griddle and spatula." John replied, sipping a cup of coffee.

John had brought enough coffee for everyone, but Ashley found hers too strong, so she passed it to Tanis, wondering what he would think of it. Tanis looked at it curiously at first, and then took a drink. His reaction could be described as anything but enjoyment.

"Ugh, what is this bitter drink?" he asked, his face twisting in disgust.

"It's called coffee, and it's not a very good batch either." Ashley replied, giggling slightly.

"Sorry 'bout that, I'm usually pretty good at making the stuff since I drink it so much." John said apologetically.

Suddenly Shakara reached forward and grabbed the cup. She brought it up to her mouth and chugged the whole thing in two gulps, then set the cup down with a satisfied look on her face.

"Not bad. Could use some sugar though." she said , smiling wryly.

This was the first time Shakara had ever done something Ashley found to be funny, and she laughed outwardly as John smiled weakly.

As they all finished up their meals and threw away the disposable containers, John's face suddenly lit up in remembrance.

"Oh, Ashley, do you want to go on that tour that I mentioned now?" he asked.

"Not unless Tanis and Shakara can come with me!" Ashley replied firmly.

"But…" John said, stumbling on his words.

"No worries, we'll cloak ourselves." Tanis said, and then suddenly vanished.

John blinked once or twice, and then nodded. "I still don't know how you can do that inside our inhibitor field, but I guess that'll work."

"Before I go however…" Tanis said, reappearing, and then walked back over to the holo-computer, which was still on pause.

Ashley expected the music to start up again when Tanis put his hand on the console, but instead the marquee simply displayed "Decoding…Rewriting" for a moment. After a few seconds, it changed to read "Song Completed".

"I don't mean to insult the music you created Shakara, but it doesn't really fit well with my song, so I removed it." Tanis said.

Shakara simply shrugged.

"Hey Tanis, look at that." Ashley said, pointing at the screen.

An option was blinking there on the main menu, reading "Share song on Underground Music Network".

"Do you think I should?" Tanis asked.

"Sure! Who knows, you might become popular!" Ashley said, smiling.

"Alright. Now it says I need a song name and artist name…" Tanis said, looking at the input values on the screen.

"Why don't we call the song 'Electronic Warfare'?" Ashley proposed.

"That's perfect!" Tanis exclaimed with an excited look on his face. "Now what should I call myself?"

"It's not like your name would carry any meaning for anyone besides us, why not just stick with your regular name?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, but it feels like I need to spice it up a bit. How about… DJ Tanis?"

"Heheh, I can just see you at a rave wearing sunglasses!" Ashley said, giggling again.

"Alright, let's send!" Tanis said, and tapped the button.

The screen simply blinked "Song Sent" for a moment, and then reverted back to the main music screen.

"Alright, let's go now! I want to see some technology!" Shakara said impatiently.

After everyone had locked up their rooms and Tanis and Shakara had successfully cloaked themselves, John lead them back down into the city streets. The light from the fixture on the cave ceiling had intensified significantly, signifying day. Now the streets were alive with people of all sorts, each wearing differently designed yet equally worn clothing. Ashley felt a bit unnerved for having Tanis and Shakara right behind her, even though she knew that all these people could see were John leading her through the streets. At one point a couple brushed behind Ashley, and she jumped, expecting them to bump into Tanis and Shakara's invisible forms. They passed right on by without any trouble however, and Ashley let out a deep sigh.

Passing out of the crowded streets, Ashley saw a large, brightly lit glass building filled with trees and other greenery. The light inside was a clean shade of white, unlike the dirty yellow light that flowed unevenly from the fixture on the cave's ceiling.

"What's that place?" Ashley asked, pointing at the building.

"That's our Pokemon sanctuary, where we keep and breed what few Pokemon we have down here." John replied.

"Can we see it?" Ashley asked.

"It's not really a planned stop on the tour, why are you interested?" John said, a bit puzzled.

Ashley pointed down at the six Master Balls now pinned back at her waist. "I train Pokemon."

John's face was suddenly blasted by a look of dumbfounded disbelief. "You're kidding!" he whispered.

"What's surprising about it?" Ashley asked.

"You must have been held in stasis for a very long time. Nobody in our society trains Pokemon anymore, we just breed them." John said as they approached the door to the greenhouse building.

"Why is that?" Ashley asked, now looking confused and worried.

"Because there are very few Pokemon left down here besides the native Zubat." John said, opening the door.

Ashley saw that John was right, there weren't very many Pokemon inside the comparatively large sanctuary. What did occupy the lush greenery consisted of a sparse distribution of common bug, grass, and flying types. There was the sound of flowing water in the background amidst the cooing of nesting Pidgeys.

"When this colony was first built after Ares' conquest, we welcomed both people and Pokemon alike. But the underground habitat proved woefully inadequate for the needs of the more exotic types of Pokemon, and they slowly died off despite our best efforts. What you see here are the survivors who have adapted to what little we could provide for them. Nobody trains anymore simply because there aren't enough left, and we don't need to put the strain of battle on those we still have." John finished.

Ashley nodded. "I see, it's quite a shame. What do you feed them?"

"Most of them live off of the environment we've built here, but those that do require special foods are fed by the breeders, who make the food themselves." John said.

"It looks really peaceful in here." Ashley said, and then a thought struck her. "My Pokemon have been cramped up for a long time now, do you suppose I could let them stay here to rest for awhile?"

"Certainly! I'm not sure if we'll be able to provide specialized foods for them, but there's plenty of room. Besides, I'm kinda curious to see what a professionally trained team looks like." John said.

Ashley slowly released her entire team, starting with Ifrit and followed by Midnight, her Gengar, Mach 5, her Pidgeot, Megawatt, her Jolteon, Shiannah, her Vaporeon, and Moonbeam, her Butterfree. As expected, Ifrit was still napping, but the others eagerly got up and stretched. Shiannah trotted up to Ashley and pawed on her jeans.

"Aww, I'm sorry Shi, I know I haven't let you guys out in a long time, but a lot's been going on." Ashley said, patting the silent Vaporeon on the head.

Shiannah's tail slumped and her ears drooped in response.

"Oh, I know you're probably hungry and upset, but I've found a place for you guys to stay for awhile, courtesy of my friend John over there…" Ashley gestured to where John had last been standing, then looked around confusedly to find him.

"Look at that muscular build!" John exclaimed, bending over Ifrit's napping form and scrutinizing.

"You might not want to wake Ifrit, she gets grumpy when her naps are interrupted." Ashley said.

John blinked and then slowly backed away from Ifrit. Ashley saw a sly grin play across Ifrit's face and wondered whether she should stop the ensuing prank. Ifrit swished her tail and tripped a startled John, who fell face first into the grass. Ashley smiled, Ifrit's personality hadn't changed a wink. She suddenly felt gentle paws land on her shoulder and her hair stood on end.

"Couldn't resist, could you, Megawatt?" She asked, smiling at the smaller than average Jolteon sitting on her shoulder.

"Jolt!" The diminuative Pokemon said, grinning cheerfully.

"Why don't you go play with your sister for awhile?" Ashley asked.

Megawatt tilted his head towards the sanctuary's pond, where Shiannah was now happily swimming.

"I see. Well, why don't you go find something else to do?" Ashley protested.

Megawatt shook his head, and when Ashley tried to grab him to remove him from her shoulder, she felt an electric sting on her hands.

"Oh alright! You can come with me, but I'd better not hear one complaint out of you for being bored!" Ashley said in resignation.

Megawatt replied with a grin that seemed to say "Would I do that?"

"Hey, that tickles!" Tanis' voice said from behind Ashley.

Ashley turned to see Midnight poking at empty air. Tanis reappeared, looking down at the comparatively shorter Pokemon that was poking his tail.

"That one's got quite sharp senses doesn't it?" Shakara asked, rematerializing next to Tanis.

"Always did!" Ashley said proudly.

Shakara stared at Midnight, who simply stuck his tongue out in response before fading out in a teleport.

"Can we get going? I want to see the humans' technology." Shakara said, settling on the grass and tapping her bladed tail against it.

"Why are you so eager? We've got time." John said, now patting Mach 5 on the head and obviously enjoying himself.

"If Tanis and I are going to form a plan for fighting Ares anytime soon, we're going to need to know the scope and power of the technology available to us." Shakara said, her voice hinting at irritation.

Shakara's eyes shifted over to where Midnight had rematerialized outside the shelter and was now pressing his face against the glass.

"Come on, stay in the shelter Midnight!" Ashley said sternly, wagging her finger at him.

Midnight disappeared and reappeared behind Ashley, then poked her in the back, making her jump.

"Come on Midnight, you know I don't like it when you do that! Now listen, I'm going to be gone for a few hours, and I want you to stay inside the sanctuary and don't get into any trouble with the other Pokemon living in here, got it?" Ashley said.

Midnight frowned and walked over to sit next to Mach 5. Ashley followed him over.

"Make sure everyone stays out of trouble, especially those two!" Ashley whispered to Mach 5, pointing toward Midnight and Ifrit. Mach 5 nodded tersely and continued pruning his feathers.

"It's about time we left!" Shakara said as John opened the door. She and Tanis then disappeared behind their cloaks.

They left the sanctuary and John led them towards a passageway in the main cave wall.

"So do they really understand everything you say to them?" John asked.

"Of course! A close understanding is necessary between a trainer and her Pokemon in order for them to be effective in battle, and for them to be good companions for the rest of the time." Ashley replied.

"They seem disobedient though." John said, indicating Megawatt, who was still sitting on Ashley's shoulder.

"Oh yeah, they're all quite the characters, but they know not to behave like that during battle. It's just the rest of the time that they're so incorrigible." Ashley said, and Megawatt grinned again.

Passing into the next cave passage, the light from the fixture in the main cave dropped away. The deep humming sound intensified in the closed space, and Ashley felt a tinge of claustrophobia. They turned a corner and came face-to-face with a pair of armed guards standing by a steel door. John rifled through his pocket and produced his ID for them.

"What about the civilian sir?" One of the guards asked.

"General's permission, if you need confirmation, then ask him yourself. As far as you're concerned however, there is no civilian here with me." John said with sudden authority in his voice.

"Yessir" The guard said, straightening up and pressing the code to open the door, which swished open.

The room beyond that John lead Ashley into was massive and rectangular in shape with three of the four walls consisting of cave stone. The fourth and farthest wall was constructed entirely from steel, and there were long steel tunnels opening up all along its length. The tunnels differed in size, but they all had glowing lights built in to trace paths up into the darkness. There were three or four smaller ships docked in clamps in the middle of the room, and there were various pieces of machinery strewn about. A few scattered personnel in uniforms were milling about performing assorted duties, including wheeling a cartful of supplies to one of the docked ships.

"This, as you can probably guess, this is the hangar in which we keep all of our ships. We don't have many left anymore though, we sent almost all of them out to attack recently and they've not returned." John said.

"This place is amazing!" Ashley exclaimed.

Suddenly Shakara's voice echoed into Ashley's mind. "Ask him how they launch their ships without being detected."

Almost robotically, Ashley posed the question, wondering if she had even done it voluntarily.

"It's a combination of factors," John began, "These launch tunnels open up several miles away inside a forest. Since we know Ares can survey any area with his ships from orbit, we use low harmonic hologram projectors to conceal the tunnel openings. At the same time, we need to launch our ships at a high enough speed to fool the cameras watching from orbit. Since the tunnel isn't long enough for the ships to gain sufficient speed on their own, we use linear electromagnetic induction fields to shoot them out into air like slugs from a rail gun. It may use a lot of energy, but it's helped us to stay hidden while at the same time keeping in contact with the outside world and occasionally launching attacks."

"How do they return undetected?" Shakara's voice asked, and Ashley repeated out loud.

"Most of them don't return at all, but we use an abandoned landing pad on the outskirts of the town on the surface above us. When a ship lands it doesn't look suspicious, and we can cover its entry into the recovery tunnel with more holograms." John said.

"Incredible." Ashley remarked on her own.

"Ares never paid enough attention to notice the ships coming out of nowhere and disappearing, and we have his carelessness to thank for our success thus far.

"Looks like you won't be launching many ships anymore though." Ashley commented, gesturing towards all the empty space in the hangar.

"Given about two or three more years, we'll have mined enough raw materials to build more though. We have no delusions about being able to bring a total end to Ares' rule, but we're hell-bent on taking as big of a chunk out of it as we can!" John said determinedly.

A glint of red caught in the corner of Ashley's eye, and her pulse jumped dramatically when she turned to see one of Ares' gunships docked on the farthest left docking station.

"Look! Quick, sound the alarm!" She shouted.

"No! Don't! False alarm!" John shouted, covering Ashley's mouth with his hand.

Ashley shoved John's hand away violently and asked "What the hell are you doing?"

"We're not being attacked you idiot! That's the gunship we captured!" John said angrily.

"Hey, don't call me an idiot!" Ashley shouted.

"Do you know what kind of trouble we both could get into had someone pulled the alarm? False alarms are serious! Whenever the alarm goes off, it makes people think they're about to die! I could be demoted and you imprisoned!" John said harshly.

"Listen, I didn't know! It was a reflex! If I see one of Ares' ships, I'm going to react with alarm!" Ashley said in a violently defensive tone.

"Ok…I'm sorry for calling you an idiot." John said, his voice returning to its normal tone.

"I'm sorry for making an idiot out of both of us." Ashley said.

"You said you had no delusions about being able to defeat my father, correct?" Shakara's voice suddenly whispered right next to them, "Well I have a plan, and the key to it is that little gunship that you two were just arguing about."

**Chapter XIII – S3**

"And just why should I give you the gunship that we went to so much trouble to capture?" General Wells asked stubbornly.

Shakara retained her rock-faced determination and spoke, "Because I know I can put an end to my father's reign with it."

The General stared into Shakara's eyes with an unblinking and powerful gaze.She could feel his steely willpower behind those aging eyes, here was the sharpened and dangerous mind of both a warrior and a leader. Yet buried within she could sense compassion and a true caring for his people within the General's soul. She knew that even though he was merely human, he was still not one to be trifled with, as he would do everything in his power for what he believed was right.

They were all back inside the grey military building from before, but this time in a much roomier and better decorated conference room. Shakara was sitting facing the General with Ashley and Tanis sitting on either side of her. John and Marcos covered both of the General's flanks, just like before. All of their reflections glowed gently on the polished, solid oak desk.

"So, you say that Ares is your father eh?" the General asked softly.

Shakara paused for a moment, then replied, "I understand your concern that I might still be harboring feelings for him, so if you wish, I can give you some visions of what he put me through."

Shakara raised her paw towards the General, retracting her claws.

"That will not be necessary. I can sense how you feel about him. But my point is that even the strongest willed person can hesitate to kill someone of their own flesh and blood." The General said.

Shakara was too struck by the second half of what the General said to really notice the first half. A thought crossed her mind that she would probably not be able to finish her father if it came down to it, and she realized that there was probably still a part of her left that had feelings for him.

"I see the hesitation in your eyes even now." The General said calmly, his expression still not changing.

"Even if she does hesitate, I won't." Tanis said, putting his paw down on the table.

"So let's assume that nobody hesitates, what is the plan you developed?" John asked Shakara.

"It's a bit risky, but there is no such thing as a totally safe plan when my father is involved." Shakara began. "Tanis and I will take the gunship and-"

"I'm coming too!" Ashley interrupted.

Shakara sighed and forged on, "Ashley, Tanis and I will take the gunship and use it to gain access to the Black River Dimensional Highway and ride it to the dimension where my father keeps his headquarters."

"You mean his HQ isn't here on Earth anymore?" Tanis suddenly asked.

"He moves it to wherever the most military conflict is taking place so that he can be closer to where the action is." Shakara explained.

"Shouldn't that be here though, since my people have just destroyed one of his facilities not a day and a half ago?" the General asked.

"I was quite up to do date on my father's attitude back when I was still in my tube a few days ago. Not only does he regard what few attacks you've made as not a threat, but he also thinks he may have found a lead to where the final piece of the Triforce is located now." Shakara said.

Shakara's senses were overwhelmed with waves of fear and anxiety coming from both Tanis and Ashley.

"Triforce?" the General and Marcos both inquired at once.

"It's an ancient artifact of enormous power, and if Ares gets his paws on it, it'll make him not only more unstoppable than he is now, but immortal as well." Tanis answered quickly.

"It would seem that it would be in all our best interests to stop Ares before he finds it then." The General said. "Continue with the explanation."

"Once we find Ares' headquarters, we'll land there and Tanis and Ashley will find a place to hide. I'll go to my father and tell him how I had been buried under the rubble of the lab and had found a gunship intact, and that I used to it to come to him and join him. After I've gained his trust, I'll use my full access to the facility to find and sabotage the main electro-psionic hub that holds his empire together. This will completely paralyze his entire empire, causing all the Acolytes to pass out and all the humans under his control to regain their free will. Then, when Ares has nobody to defend him but himself, Tanis and I will regroup and attack him together. Hopefully we'll be able to defeat him and put an end to his reign." Shakara said, finishing.

"That plan assumes a lot, mainly that Ares will be at his headquarters when you arrive, and that you'll be able to successfully hide Tanis and Ashley when you do." The General pointed out.

"And that I'll miss out on the battle and just stay in the hiding place!" Ashley chimed in.

"Firstly, I know my father will be there because I will have already contacted him when I request access to the Black River. I'll tell him I want to spend at least a few hours with him, and that we should meet at his HQ. Secondly, Tanis is perfectly capable of hiding his and Ashley's energy signatures, so they'll be able to do something simple, like duck under a floor panel or hide in a maintenance closet. And thirdly Ashley, you being present at that battle would be dangerous. Ares could easily kill you or control your mind, making you a liability." Shakara said.

"Jolt!" the small Jolteon on Ashley's shoulder said in an angry voice.

"Shush Megawatt!" Ashley chided, then spoke to Shakara, "What if I just hide and watch? You can put one of your psychic cloaks over me if need be!"

"And use precious energy needed to fight Ares? I think not!" Shakara said firmly.

"It's a two-on-one battle though, for crying out loud! You should have more than enough energy to defeat him together!" Ashley protested.

"You're forgetting that Ares has two of the three pieces of the Triforce already. This makes our chances of winning very slim as it is." Shakara said,

Ashley frowned and stopped protesting.

"So it would seem that you've found the best way of getting to Ares, but do you really need our gunship to do it?" the General asked calmly.

"Yes, we can't be sure that any of the ships that you've built can handle the forces exerted by travel in the Black River, and my father builds his ships specifically strong enough to do so. Besides, at this point so early after your attack on his forces, my father is bound to shoot down any human ship behaving suspiciously. We need one of his ships to get close enough to contact him." Shakara said.

"I see." The General said, rubbing his stubbly chin.

"Wait, we don't have to leave right away, do we?" Ashley asked.

"Think of it this way, the longer we wait, the closer Ares gets to finding the Triforce." Shakara said.

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room let Shakara's words sink in.

"Just what kind of artifact is this Triforce anyway?" Marcos suddenly asked.

Shakara looked over at Tanis, who exchanged a glance with Ashley.

"It's a massive concentration of ambient energy in the form of three golden triangles. Its shape and composition aren't important to us at this point however, what is important is that it is powerful enough to shape landscapes and grant, or take, life. I don't know how it was created, but I do know that if Ares completes it, he will be invincible." Tanis said.

"I didn't think that the nature of the artifact was really that important when you mentioned it, I just need some time to think about this issue with the gunship." The General said thoughtfully. "Marcos, did you figure out why our inhibition field failed?"

"Yes, I think I had just solved it before you called me to this meeting. You see, our psionic inhibitors are fine-tuned to block energy wave frequencies from Ares and his Acolytes, and it seems that our guests' abilities use completely different wavelengths. Tanis' wavelength is much lower, and Shakara's is a bit higher." Marcos said.

"What does this mean for us?" The General asked.

"Well, there's no problem with Tanis since it's to be expected that his wavelength differ drastically from Ares'. But the fact that Ares' daughter has a different wavelength than him could mean one of two things; either he created her significantly different from him, or her has found a way to change his and all his Acolytes' brainwave patterns." Marcos said.

"The first option seems far more likely, but we can't afford to take the remotest risk. Major, I want you to configure the inhibitors to block Shakara's wavelength as well, and do it with all speed." The General said.

"Yes sir, it should take about an hour." Marcos said, and then stood and left the room.

"I'm going to need at least a day to propose your plan to the council and for them to make a decision. Despite what you may think, I don't hold absolute power over the people down here." The General said, turning to face Shakara. "You can stay on in the room John provided for you until the council decides. If your plan is rejected, you can stay long enough to develop a new one and propose it again."

Shakara felt enraged inside that she was going to let a group of humans control her like that, but she didn't let it show in front of anyone. A part of her wanted to steal the gunship and go by herself, but she still had scruples left that would not allow such an action, especially on that particular day.

"Alright, thank you General." She said, deftly hiding her feelings.

After the meeting ended, Tanis and Ashley went back to the Pokemon Sanctuary while Shakara spent her last hour with her abilities wandering the civilian sector of the city. She found that behind the ugly façade of the grimy city laid an even uglier way of life. The living conditions she observed were horrifying. She wandered into people's homes and saw them drinking murky, polluted water and eating small bits of rationed, moldy food. Hobos laid starving in the back alleys while the only two hospitals were overcrowded with the sick and malnourished. The sheer human suffering Shakara saw was in sharp contrast to how well she and her companions had been living. She felt a new mixture of anger form in her stomach; partly at her father for causing this suffering, and partly for the human leaders here for doing nothing to solve it. The rich and delicious breakfast Shakara had consumed that morning now made her feel sick to her stomach as she watched a mother on the street feed her baby spoiled milk, being all she had.

Shakara returned to her room a few minutes before the inhibitors were scheduled to start blocking her abilities. Tanis, Ashley and John had not returned yet, and the light from the fixture on the cave's ceiling started to dim, signifying night. They had been out longer than Shakara realized, and now she was stuck up in her room with nobody but her own dismal thoughts to keep her company. Her stomach continued to churn as her mind turned over and over again the images of the suffering she had seen that day. When she couldn't stand to wait alone for the others anymore, she decided to go to bed. After all the events of the day, time had indeed flown amazingly fast, and it was already half past 9PM.

"No! I don't want to relive this!" Shakara's mind shouted as the dream played out.

A badly injured and bleeding human mother laid on the smoking debris of her home that Shakara had just destroyed. Her child cried desperately in her arms as she knelt before Shakara, begging for her life.

"Please find it in your heart to show us mercy! I beg of you!" the woman sobbed.

Shakara held the points of her tail blades poised directly under the woman's chin, ready to slice her neck open. She stood that way, her insides boiling with self-loathing and remorse. Then, she lowered the blades and turned away, refusing to commit the foul, bloody deed. It was at that moment Ares' voice spoke to her.

"Do not hesitate to kill your enemies, for they will not hesitate to kill you."

"How can she be my enemy?" Shakara shouted in response.

A loud bang echoed through the air as if replying to Shakara's question, and a fiery bolt of pain ripped through her abdomen. She looked down to see her own blood trickling down through a hole in her stomach where the bullet had passed through her body. She turned to see the human mother shakily holding the smoking pistol.

"Kill her." Ares' voice echoed.

"No!" Shakara yelled.

Another bang pierced the air, and the flesh of Shakara's knee was shredded by the bullet. Shakara fell forward onto her good knee, scratching at the collar around her neck that blocked her powers.. Her claws had no effect on it.

"I will not obey!" Shakara screamed as the control collar hummed to life.

A third bullet tore through Shakara's left shoulder, breaking apart her shoulder bone and subsequently knocking loose the blade protruding from it, causing it to painfully hang backwards. Blood left Shakara's body quickly now, and she felt herself starting to grow cold.

"The next bullet is aimed at your heart Shakara. Your next action is up to you, but choose quickly." Ares' voice echoed coldly.

Shakara looked at the woman and saw that her once terrified expression had been replaced with one of rage and violence. The woman began to squeeze the trigger.

In an instant Shakara appeared behind the woman, standing with her tail arced upwards and the blades covered with a thin coat of blood. The woman's expression changed from anger to shock and horror, and after a few seconds her head slid cleanly off of her shoulders.

"May your death be short and merciful." Shakara panted, gripping her wounds, and then turned away.

"Yours won't be if you make these same mistakes again!" Ares' voice echoed angrily. "You forgot to kill the child."

The final bullet tore right through Shakara's still beating heart.

Shakara bolted upright in bed, covered with sweat. She felt her stomach continue to boil and ache, as if she had eaten a bowl of fresh magma. She felt herself about to vomit and ran to her bathroom to spew her stomach contents out. Acidic pain arced through her esophagus as she heaved up everything she had eaten over the previous day. Even after Shakara's stomach had completely emptied itself, her body still kept convulsing and she spent five minutes enduring excruciating dry-heaves.

After finishing her ordeal, Shakara turned to the sink to wash her face off. She instinctively tried to use her recover ability, but felt the energy arc backwards into her skull. The excess energy stung and burned, and her senses completely fogged out, temporarily blinding and deafening her. It was like a glowing cloud of silvery pain that collected around her conscious mind. It cleared before long, and when Shakara regained control over herself she lit up the air around her with various swear words she had heard her father use on numerous occasions.

"Thanks a lot Marcos." She muttered bitterly after finishing her fit of profanity.

Sitting back on her bed, Shakara found that sleep refused to return to her. She was still recovering from her memories of that horrific training exercise her father had put her through, and a part of her knew more of them would resurface the moment sleep did return. She tried to return to the artificial world her imagination had created, but another session of blinding pain clouds and cursing told her that she could not recede into her fantasy world without use of her power. Out of options, Shakara walked over and turned on her room's holo-computer, then began reading up on human history.

Shakara soon came across the historical records of her father and his conquests. She knew it would probably be biased against him, but she had no idea of the images it would contain. Apparently Ares had slanted things even more to her than she had thought, for in the database laid images of sheer horror that defied the imagination. There were images of massive piles of charred human corpses unceremoniously tossed in mass graves, entire cities reduced to cratered rubble, and inglorious ship graveyards where humanity's greatest military and technological achievements met their gruesome ends. Her father had told her the death and destruction were as minimal as he had been able to manage, but these images spoke strongly otherwise. The silent testimonies of wholesale slaughter made Shakara's stomach turn and ache even worse, and her hatred for her father grew. She was now ready to discount everything her had told her as lies.

"Can't sleep either eh?" Tanis said, having suddenly appeared behind her.

Shakara felt thoroughly flustered that she had not been able to sense Tanis' approach without her abilities. It was a shocking reminder about how dependent she was becoming on them already.

"Especially with people randomly appearing in my room without permission." She replied bitingly.

"Sorry." Tanis said, his voice sullen and soaked in shame.

"Wait!" Shakara said suddenly, feeling guilty about having hurt Tanis' feelings.

"What is it?" Tanis asked.

Shakara searched for words for a moment and spoke, "What's new?"

Tanis' hurt expression was replaced by an excited grin. "My song got very popular very quickly!" he said happily.

"Oh? Tell me about it." Shakara said, happy that she could connect with Tanis, even though she was relatively uninterested with the topic.

"It's great! Several people commented saying that they added my song to their play lists!" Tanis said, grinning widely.

"That's wonderful. Say…do you think that you could help me make a full song like that?" Shakara asked.

If the grin on Tanis' face could have gotten any wider, it would have. "I would be honored to!" he said in an utterly flattered voice.

"Is that why you haven't sleep, you've been making more music?" Shakara asked.

Tanis' grin vanished and he sat down in a chair next to Shakara. He winced in pain after sitting on his tail and then brushed it to the side.

"To tell you the truth, I'm too worried that our plan will fail, that we'll be killed, and all will fall before your father's might. It's eating me alive, this worry, and I can't rest for all the 'what ifs' bouncing around my mind." Tanis said.

"Listen, I know all of my father's strategies, how he fights, how he moves. I can show you how to defeat him. We can train together." Shakara said.

"How? The inhibitors will keep you from using your abilities!" Tanis said.

"I'm sure we can work something out. The point is, it'll only take me a day to teach you all my father's fighting techniques and how to counter them. That will leave the Triforce as the final unknown factor." Shakara said.

"Ay, there's the rub." Tanis said.

Shakara squinted, not sure of what Tanis had meant.

"It's Shakespeare; I've been reading human literature." Tanis said.

"Do you find that reading helps you with nightmares?" Shakara asked.

"It certainly helps keep my mind off of what's troubling me." Tanis replied, "I just wish there was some way to know if we're going to be able to stop your father in time."

Shakara paused for a moment. "Can recommend a good book for me to look up on the computer?"

"_Fahrenheit 451_" Tanis said, nodding solemnly.

A/N: Happy Halloween everybody! I don't have any stereotypical Halloween puns for you, here though. At any rate, things are about to start deteriorating for all of our friends here in the story, and several carefully laid plans are going to go wrong. Expect some twists and turns to come in the next chunk, 'cause I'm pretty much done setting the stage for it now!

Again, thanks for all the reviews, keep up the good work, yadda yadda you've heard this review footnote hundreds of times before.


	18. Part II: Resurrection Chunk 5

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Whoa, early chunk! This one took me practically no time at all, but that's because I got a little ahead of myself before by saying that we were going to dive right into the action. I've still got a little more building to do here, but that doesn't make it any less interesting!

**_Part II - Resurrection_**

**Chapter XIV – R12**

"The deed is done." Isaac said calmly, and a wave of electric excitement washed through Ruru's mind.

"Tell us everything." Onta said eagerly, climbing up out of his pool.

"I came into Ianalka's chamber under the pretense of delivering a message from Anmor. She was sitting on the Dantunian Throne, idly reading some book. I closed and locked the door after waving the guards out. They saw Ares' symbol on my forehead and obeyed without question. I approached Ianalka and kneeled, taking her hand into mine and kissing it. She told me to rise without looking up from her book. I took the opportunity to pin her and muffle her voice with a pillow. I pulled out a dagger and stabbed it through her heart. She thrashed and tried to scream, but I held her and the pillow kept her screams from being heard. I then escaped through a side door and made it to a regiment of Dantunian troops, who I told that revolution had started." Isaac said.

"How is the revolt proceeding?" Ruru asked.

"The first stage is already complete, and it couldn't have gone any better!" Aquel said, grinning.

"Can you describe it?" Onta asked.

"It was like we started a landslide with one rock!" Aquel began, "As soon as word spread of Ianalka's death, Dantunians everywhere picked up their weapons and rose up against the Iresians in the palace. The Iresians were caught completely off-guard; they were still scrambling to figure out who had killed their leader when the Dantunian army converged upon them. They didn't have a chance to hitch up a single dragon to fight back or escape. They didn't even manage to get a messenger out to inform Ares and Anmor of the attack. We killed them by the hundreds and took miniscule losses. It was their arrogance and complacency that was their downfall, most of them had not even considered the possibility of an uprising, so none of them were even close to being prepared for this. Many were still putting on their armor as we pressed our assault. It was a flawless battle for us."

Ruru outwardly smiled in an optimistic manner, but now she felt the icy cloud of doubt beginning to curl around her heart. Her imagination began to paint pictures of Iresian Dragons slaughtering the Dantunians just as they had done to the Gorons. She still tried to hold onto some hope in her heart, but the Triforce of Wisdom unconsciously told her that she was walking into the greatest folly of her life.

"We've already started arming those who didn't take up arms already, and the movement into the Dead Lands is starting to get underway. We should be ready in five days, and since no messenger made it to report the rebellion, we predict it should take another four days after that for the Iresians to respond." Aquel said.

"What about your citizens? Who will protect all the unarmed civilians while every able body in Dantun is over here in these wastelands? Surely the Iresians will take a very bloody revenge on your country's innocents!" Onta said angrily.

"Well, we originally planned to move them into hiding in the caves under the Dead Lands like you." Aquel said.

"No! Absolutely not! We cannot give Ares and Anmor any reason to search the caves whatsoever! He will surely find me and the Triforce if you do!" Ruru said angrily.

"Then what? Just let all my people get slaughtered like a herd of cattle?" Aquel asked, his anger rising as well.

"Neither plan will work." Isaac said calmly.

"What do you suggest then?" Aquel, Onta and Ruru all asked in unison.

"Evacuate the people into the neighboring countries. If Bensor is sending their dragons to help us fight, then surely they would be willing to take in our refugees for a few weeks. Even if they don't, it's likely that at least one of the other countries will." Isaac said.

"Shouldn't we have discussed this before starting the war?" Ruru asked angrily.

"I thought you knew what we were planning!" Aquel said defensively.

"And I thought you knew that I wouldn't allow anything that might lead to me being discovered!" Ruru replied.

"Easy! Easy there. No need to argue." Isaac said coolly. "We've already found the solution, so there's no problem."

"Oh yes there is! Now I'm going to have to resubmit the plan to the Dantunian Council, and there's no guarantee that they'll approve it." Aquel said.

"Oh they'll approve of it, I'll see to it." Isaac said confidently.

There was a short pause before Aquel spoke again, "At any rate, there's more good news. We've managed to capture all 300 of the Iresian Dragons that were stationed here with the garrison."

"They're not refusing to let Dantunians ride them then?" Onta asked.

"Apparently the Iresians broke their spirits so thoroughly that none of them care who rides them." Aquel replied.

"So…taking into account the losses the Iresian took fighting the Gorons 40 years ago…and assuming that no new dragons have been born or captured since then, that makes around 27,000 Iresian troops and dragons against our 50,000 troops and 7,300 dragons." Ruru said.

"There's still the possibility of aid from Theria and Il'Nead as well, we expect word to return from them anytime." Aquel added.

"Men don't matter as much as dragons in this battle Aquel. We cannot depend on our troop numbers alone to grant us victory, we'll need a genius tactician and expertly coordinated attack plans in order to exploit the dragons' weaknesses and win." Ruru said.

"Don't worry, I can fill the role of tactician, I know all of their strategies, all of their formations, and all the ways we can counter them." Isaac said confidently.

"The council's already approved of that." Aquel said.

"Aquel, something strikes me all of the sudden. Didn't you say that there would be a new Dantunian King on the throne after the rebellion?" Ruru asked.

"It's a bit soon for that, the council wants to finish war preparations first." Aquel replied.

"I should like to meet this man that's been chosen to be king, both personally and diplomatically." Ruru said.

"I can arrange it as soon as war preparations are completed and his ascension to the throne has been sanctified." Aquel said.

"Tell me…do you have a backup plan should this war fail?" Onta asked, changing the subject.

"You should know that there's no turning back from this. If we lose, all of Dantun and possible Bensor as well will be burned to the ground in retaliation. If the other nations aid us, they too will be destroyed. But, that will not happen. We will stand free again! Dantun, Hyrule, and all the other nations will be freed from the shackles of oppression that Iress has placed upon us! And you, you will be able to stand proud upon your homelands once more!" Aquel said.

Those words single-handedly stifled the aching worry in Ruru's mind, replacing it with shining memories of the Gerudo plains and hope for seeing them again soon. She turned to look at her mural and the grey stone where she would paint her home. She felt now the need to finish it, and her hand ached for the brush.

Onta followed her gaze and spoke, "Do you think you can finish it before the battle? If we win, we're going to leave this cave for home. If we lose, I'm certain death will find us. Either way, the mural will go unfinished unless you finish it beforehand."

"Trust me, I'll finish it. The only reason it's taken me so many years so far is the fact that there hasn't been any looming deadline for me to worry about. Now that I have motivation to get moving, I can finish it in a week easily." Ruru said.

"It makes me want to see Hyrule myself." Aquel said.

"You can come with us when we go home!" Onta said cheerfully. "Certainly you and your people will be hailed as heroes in Hyrule if you achieve victory. I can guarantee you that the Zoras will provide you with a warm welcome."

"I'll look forward to it!" Aquel said happily.

"I can't wait to have some fresh fish straight from the Zora's River again." Onta said, closing his eyes gently.

"I can already feel the sun warming my skin again." Ruru said, joining him in reminiscence.

**Chapter XV – J7**

Jenna, Felix, Piers and Kalana all sat around a smooth carved oak table in the dimly lit inn of Madra once more. The innkeeper sat drowsily at his desk, puffing on a charred cigar. The fire in the fireplace was beginning to burn down, causing the light in the room to fade further and curls of smoke to drift through the air. The scent of spices still lingered in the air from dinner, and all was still as everyone else in the town slept cozily in their beds. The rings under Kalana's eyes were striking as Jenna observed them, and the four of them sat in whispering council for hours on end.

"I still can't believe what I've seen." Jenna said quietly. "Ares has technology that outdoes even what the Lemurians have. I've never seen entire buildings constructed out of steel before."

"He's got more of this technology than you can imagine, he just does not share it with the rest of Weyard's people because he's afraid we might use it against him." Kalana said.

"He certainly doesn't hide the fact that he has it though." Piers said, commenting on the great steel fortress that Ares had built on the southern tip of the Gondowan Continent.

Jenna made a disgusted "harrumph" noise before speaking. "What a vile thing to do, keep people technologically in the dark and still require them to give tributes of food and resources. His greed knows no bounds."

"I can scarcely imagine what kinds of weapons he possesses. Even with our most powerful psynergy, we still couldn't penetrate fortresses like those." Felix said grimly.

"Well, I think that we've gathered more than enough information to please the Lemurian Senators, it should certainly keep them from ordering anyone else out here." Jenna said.

Piers sighed heavily and frowned. "What a grand irony that they actually banished me for leaving Lemuria once like this, and now they're forcing me to do it for them. It enrages me how fickle they can be with their perception of justice."

"The news we brought for them when we first came to hiding caused quite a shock, especially when King Hydros chose to believe it. Apparently popular support can really cause them to eventually change their opinions a little." Felix said.

"I've seen thousands of years where they remained stoically determined to hold one spot of ground though, that's what makes it hard to believe." Piers said.

"At any rate, the fact that we've got an insider from Ares' Navy will help to prove our position and perhaps even inspire change." Jenna said.

"That'll be quite the big news indeed!" Piers said.

"Whatever they decide though, it's not like it'll make any difference anyway." Kalana said. "As you said, your abilities are no match for Ares and his technology. The only hope you have of defeating him is to infiltrate his headquarters and steal the Stone of Sages."

"Ah, the Stone. I had forgotten about it. So Ares has it now?" Felix asked.

"Of course, it and the Djinni he stole from Isaac are what give him immortality." Kalana said.

"Of course, if we steal the Djinni from him, we might stand a chance of defeating him. Take the stone of sages, he will become mortal, and then we kill him with the Djinni. The only problems that are left are his Acolytes, and actually being able to infiltrate his base." Jenna said.

Kalana grinned. "I can take care of both of those problems. I know all the hidden access tunnels, all the nicks in security, and all the vulnerabilities of his base."

"I thought you said you were just a ship captain in his navy?" Felix asked, suspicion rising in his voice.

"Oh, I worked patrol in his main base for a few years before being moved to naval duty. I can find us a way in, disable the security systems, and lead you straight to him." Kalana said.

Jenna frowned again. "It sounds unbelievably dangerous and unlikely. How can you guarantee we'll be able to defeat him?"

"Without his minions or the Djinni, Ares is still powerful, but if you possess the Djinni and group attack him with your Psynergy, you might stand a chance of overcoming him. You'll have to be quick and strike him down before he can summon the Acolytes, making for a very close battle. But, the possibility is there, and very real."

"I still have my doubts." Jenna said.

"Can you think of the glory though?" Kalana asked, "This would be the second time your group of friends had saved the world, and this time you could be rich and famous for it!"

"But, it would be the first time our group saved the world without Isaac." Jenna said, sadness suddenly welling up from within her. "I miss him so much."

Felix patted Jenna on the back, trying to comfort her. "We all still feel his loss Jenna. Before he was corrupted like that, he was one of the brightest and strongest young men that I've ever met. He was like a brother to me."

A new idea burned to life in Jenna's mind. She knew that this opportunity to kill Ares might provide a way to avenge Isaac's death. Ever since that fateful day at Air's Rock, she and her friends had assumed Isaac to be dead. The prospect of avenging him caused Jenna's mind to burn like the fires deep in Magma Rock.

"We'll do it." Jenna said quietly.

"Are you sure?" Piers asked in slight disbelief.

"We'll need to sail back to Lemuria as quickly as possible and share everything that we've learned so far, and then get Sheba, Ivan, Mia, Garret, and Kraden packed. We'll need our entire party with us to stand up against Ares, and Kraden will undoubtedly want to witness the event." Jenna said.

"We'll sail for Lemuria first thing tomorrow morning." Piers concluded.

**Chapter XVI – T14**

Tanis groggily rubbed his eyes as the alarm clock next to his bed went off. The buzzer was intolerably loud, and he slammed his paw down on the button to make it stop. He had set it early intentionally so he could get up and read some more that morning. The clock blinked to 6:02 AM as he splashed some cold water over his face to wake himself up. He knew that getting only 2 hours of sleep probably wasn't healthy for him, but he had slept well over the last few days, and had slept quite a lot during his stay in the stasis tube. Right now he felt an unquenchable thirst to read, and he found his fix in the online database.

It seemed that only a few minutes after Tanis sat down to read that someone came and knocked on his door. As he turned around to answer it, he saw that his clock now read eight past noon. He choked a gasp at how fast time flew when one was reading and went to answer the door. He found Ashley waiting there, in what appeared to be the first change of clothes since he had met her.

"Morning sleepyhead! Mind if I come in?" Ashley asked, sounding especially perky.

"Certainly!" Tanis said, stepping aside to let her through. "Say…did you bathe?"

Ashley rolled her eyes. "For the first time in four weeks, not counting the time in the stasis tube of course. I was tired of driving John off with my shabby looks."

"You look…great." Tanis said, feeling odd that he hadn't complimented Ashley like this before.

Ashley threw him a sideways smile. "Thanks. I see you've been on the computer again."

"Oh yes, I wasn't sleeping in this morning. I've been reading for about six hours." Tanis said.

Ashley's eyes widened a bit. "Reminds me of my college days. You know my dad made me go early and get a master's degree in Pokemon Care before letting me become a trainer. I swear, there were three or four tomes written for each single species of Pokemon, and I'm sure I read most of them."

"Were there any on my kind?" Tanis asked, his curiosity having now been piqued.

"Actually no, we only had a few mentions, and they only included what few sightings trainers had of your father. Professor Oak apparently took some power readings of him while he was sleeping too, but that's the only solid data about your species on the record." Ashley said.

Tanis nodded, knowing that it was like his father not to allow humans to know much about him. That was one of the major things he remembered from seeing his memories in the Time Medallion.

"What kinds of books are you reading?" Ashley asked.

"Very ancient stuff, Shakespeare, Greek Mythology and the like. I've read about 9 books so far now." Tanis said.

Ashley looked shocked again. "Just this morning!"

"Oh no, I was up almost all night last night too." Tanis said, feeling twinges of tiredness creeping over his eyes.

"Again, been there, done that." Ashley said, nodding understandingly.

There was a brief knock on the outer door and John's voice announced "Breakfast's here!"

The three of them sat down and ate together, and Tanis noticed that Shakara was absent from their table. "Where's Shakara?"

"I think she's still asleep." Ashley said nonchalantly.

"I'm here." Shakara said, having seemingly materialized in the doorway.

"Well come on! Join us! I brought you some waffles!" John said.

Tanis was very glad to see that John had already become so comfortable around him and Shakara in such a short time, but the next series of events cut Tanis's happiness short.

Shakara walked up to the table and shot John one of the most venomous looks Tanis had ever seen. "Why don't you take your bountiful food and feed it to your poor, you hypocritical swine!"

With that Shakara grabbed one of the sacks of food off of the table and shoved it over John's head forcefully. She began striding towards the door, but Tanis cut her off.

"What are you thinking, being rude to our hosts like that?" Tanis bellowed.

A glimmering fire of rage sparkled in Shakara's eyes. "Why? I'll tell you why! Because this man and all the men who lead this colony have no regard for the welfare of the poor and less fortunate!"

"What are you talking about?" Tanis shouted.

"Didn't you wonder why his little 'tour' didn't take us into any detail of the residential areas of the city? Well I know! It's because he didn't want us to see the homeless men and mothers dying in the streets from starvation!" Shakara fumed.

Tanis was taken aback, but he felt he needed to drive a point home and thus continued.

"Listen! Our only hope of helping these people is if we defeat Ares! We can't defeat him without the gunship, and unless we're continually polite and conciliatory with the human leaders, then they won't give us the gunship! Understand!" Tanis yelled.

"Yes. But I also don't understand why we can't just take it either." Shakara said, her voice low but still dangerous.

"Because both you and I know that none of us want to sink to your father's level of sheer thievery!" Tanis said.

Anger of a supreme insult filled Shakara's gaze, but her arguments were quelled and she visibly relaxed a little. "I'll be in my room." She growled and walked off.

Tanis was left standing at the door, utter embarrassment flooding his mind. He looked over at the two humans sitting at the table. John was only now starting to take the paper bag off of his head, and Ashley's face was painted aghast. She tried to give Tanis a reassuring look as John took the bag off of his head, but it failed to help Tanis feel any better. At that moment he wished that he was the one with the paper bag over his head. He finally overcame his utter mortification and sat back down at the table next to Ashley.

"I'm very sorry." Tanis said as John slowly wiped the butter off of his face.

"Listen. You've got nothing to worry about." John said, his voice faltering terribly. "I'm not going to say anything to the council. I want you to succeed just as badly as anyone else could. But…" John utterly ground to a halt.

"Is what Shakara said true?" Tanis asked emotionlessly.

John suddenly looked as if he were about to cry. He hid his food smeared face in his hands and stood from the table. "I'm…I'm…I'll be in my room too." He said, his voice trembling and breaking.

Tanis couldn't find it in himself to get up or even speak as John walked off. What had just transpired had given him much to digest, and all he could to was look to Ashley to see her reaction. He could see her face painted with the bright palette of disbelief and shock as well. He suddenly couldn't bring himself to touch his own bag of food either.

Tanis let his elbows rest on the table and laid his face in his paws, trying to get a total grip on everything that he needed to comprehend. As he sat in disbelief, Ashley's witty voice chimed in with perfect timing, just as it always did.

"Looks like a great start to another fantastic, fun-filled day."

A/N: Not as much excitement in this one as I expected, but that's ok. If you were on your toes, you might have caught a couple of really subtle things buried here and there in this chunk, and I'm pretty happy about how the character drama is playing out. I can't say I can accurately predict what the next chunk's going to look like, but don't let that discourage you from reading and reviewing! I always enjoy hearing what you think!


	19. Part II: Resurrection Chunk 6

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Alright, here I have another punctual chunk for you all to enjoy! Now, as promised, the action finally starts up. It'll jump on you when you don't expect it though, so buckle up and be ready!

**_Part II - Resurrection_**

**Chapter XVII – A14**

An atmosphere of tension seemed to condense around the little condominium complex where Ashley and her companions were staying. Suddenly none of them had any reason to approach the other, and for the next hour or so, none of them did. Ashley returned to her room and watched some holo-TV.

Initially Ashley had planned to spend most of her day in the Pokemon sanctuary, but now she wasn't so sure. Tanis had told her of his plans to train with Shakara, and now he had taken a short trip to visit the General and ask if Marcos could reprogram the psi-blockers for awhile. Ashley knew that she wanted to watch the training session and perhaps have her Pokemon team watch it as well, but she couldn't be sure that it was really going to happen. She knew how strong willed the General could be, and she had her doubts about Shakara's emotional stability now as well. At any rate, she decided to stay in her room, at least until Tanis returned.

The shows that Ashley found on the holo-TV were incredibly dull. They were just as clichéd, formulaic and predictable as the shows of her time. She flipped through all twelve channels for the better part of half an hour when suddenly a news flash interrupted every channel.

"Breaking news!" a female newscaster blared, making Ashley jump. "Allied resistance members found! Members of the Mewtwo species have joined the fight against Ares!"

Ashley's blood pressure blew through the roof as she contemplated the implications of their loss of secrecy. The holo-TV began playing footage of the meeting that she, Shakara and Tanis had attended yesterday and Ashley could practically feel the shocked reactions of the rest of the colony despite the fact that she had no psychic abilities whatsoever. She heard a knock on her door and quickly turned off the holo-TV and answered it. She found Tanis on the other side and invited him in.

"Still worried about Shakara as well eh?" Tanis asked, observing Ashley's shaken expression.

"Yes, but that's not what's got me really bothered." Ashley said, sitting on a chair in front of the holo-TV.

"What is it then?" Tanis asked.

Ashley flipped on the holo-TV again, showing a video of Shakara debating with the General.

"You've hit the news." Ashley said gravely.

"Well, I don't think that's a problem unless they're casting Shakara and I in a negative light." Tanis said.

"Interviews with General Wells have given us new in-depth information on the newly dubbed 'Mewtwo Rebels'. The two of them have been fighting Ares' rule valiantly for years, and not until now have they found anyone to stand beside them." The TV blared.

"Doesn't sound like it." Ashley commented, watching as the TV showed an artist's portrayal of Tanis and Shakara locked in battle with Ares.

Tanis walked over and turned off the TV. "Not that I mind the fact that they're making me look heroic, it just seems that they're embellishing things a little bit."

Ashley scoffed. "It's TV tradition. It's been that way ever since the first solid-state model was invented." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, I managed to convince the General to let Shakara and I have the day without the psi-blockers blocking her frequency today." Tanis said.

"Really? How'd you accomplish that?" Ashley asked curiously.

"Simple, I played the 'What's best for humanity in the long run' card. I told him that it would significantly increase our chances of victory, and eventually he begrudgingly agreed." Tanis recalled.

"Are you going to start the session now?" Ashley asked.

"Pretty soon. You have to take into account the amount of time it'll take for me to talk Shakara out of her room." Tanis said, tapping his fingers on his forehead.

It was easily another half hour before Tanis finally did succeed in convincing Shakara to come out of her room. John solidly refused to even acknowledge any of them, so Tanis and Shakara decided to leave him behind. Before leaving their building, Tanis also decided that it would be best for all of them to remain unseen despite all the positive publicity they were receiving. They cloaked themselves and made their way around the outer walls of the cavern until they found a suitably large empty storage room to train in unseen.

"I'll be right back guys, I want my Pokemon team to watch the session and I want to go fetch them." Ashley said as Tanis and Shakara finished clearing what few items there were in the room.

"Do you want us to wait for you?" Tanis asked politely.

"No, go ahead and start. I'll be back in a jiffy." Ashley replied.

Walking through the now crowded city streets, Ashley found herself drawing considerably more attention that usual. She was used to drawing awed stares from trainers in her time, but that was for a completely different reason. Back then, she had earned her recognition as one of the most skilled and powerful Pokemon Masters the League had ever seen through a lot of hard work and learning, but here it felt she was getting recognized for no apparent reason. She guessed that the newscasters must have portrayed her in a heroic light as a rebel standing alongside Tanis and Shakara, and it made her feel uneasy, since she hadn't really done anything.

Reaching the sanctuary, Ashley opened the doors to see that Midnight was up to his usual tricks. He was floating in the air, just above Shiannah, taunting her with what appeared to be a fresh fish. Shiannah was jumping up in the air and snapping at him with her jaws, always falling an inch or two short.

"Midnight! Cut that out!" Ashley chided loudly.

Midnight looked over at Ashley and frowned. This was just enough of a distraction to allow Shiannah to catch him off guard and sink her teeth into his foot. Midnight and the obviously false fish both faded out, and then the upset Ghost Pokemon reappeared next to Ashley, dancing and yowling in pain and frustration. Megawatt leapt down off of Ashley's should and ran over to his big sis to give her a high five with paws high in the air.

"Alright you guys, enough is enough. I'm not going to slap anyone's wrists now though since I'm in a hurry. We're all going to go and watch a training battle between my good friends Shakara and Tanis, and I want all of you to pay close attention! Treat it as if it were you all were participating in the battle yourselves, alright?" Ashley said.

All six of the Pokemon in Ashley's team became tenser and more alert, and each of them acknowledged her seriously. Ashley then recalled all of them back into their Pokeballs, leaving Mach 5 out last.

"They weren't like that the whole time I was out, were they?" Ashley asked the serene Pidgeot.

Mach 5 nodded, and Ashley slapped her face and moaned in frustration. "I'll have to lecture them later." She said, and then recalled Mach 5 into his ball.

The walk back through the city was just as awkward as before, and when Ashley arrived back at the door to the training room, it was shaking on its hinges. A deep rumbling was rattling through the walls from the inside. Ashley opened the door to see Tanis and Shakara shooting beams of energy at a translucent image of Ares. This phantom Ares turned to look at Ashley and she instantly tumbled to the ground, having lost control of her body. The shimmering villain then raced across the room, scooped Ashley up and held a glowing energy sword to her throat.

"Surrender your minds to me now or your human friend gets it." The phantom Ares hissed.

"End simulation!" Shakara shouted, and Ashley fell over again as the ghost of Ares abruptly vanished.

"Going for behavioral realism eh?" Ashley asked, getting up and rubbing the back of her head. "Well you've made you point Shakara, and you don't need to rub it in any further."

"I'm really sorry about that!" Tanis said, rushing over to help Ashley up.

"Never mind, just make sure that I'm a part of the scenery during your next exercise." Ashley said, starting to pull the Pokeballs back off of her belt.

Shakara merely grunted in acknowledgement. Ashley ignored her and released her team and forced them to sit and pay quiet attention.

"So, explain to us how this session is being performed." Ashley requested calmly.

"Basically, Tanis and I are each giving up half of our energy to create a shadow copy of Ares to battle against. This shadow copy, when compared to either Tanis or I alone will have twice our power, simulating the situation Tanis and I will face since Ares has two pieces of the Triforce. Together Tanis and I will be able to match him, but only if we attack together in perfect tandem. Alone he could defeat us easily." Shakara said.

"So you're practicing synchronizing your attack patterns then?" Ashley asked.

"Tanis and I will link minds during battle, so we can perfectly co-ordinate our attacks without words or practice. We will be able to follow the flow of battle as it plays out and counter all my father's moves as he makes them. The only reason we need all day to train is because Tanis and I both need to adjust to the mental link enough so that my father can't break it, whether it be with distractions or with his powers" Shakara explained.

"I see. Well, go ahead and start, but make sure my team and I are totally undetectable to the shadow copy." Ashley said.

Shakara nodded and turned to face Tanis, who nodded as well. They both closed their eyes for a moment, and when they opened them Shakara's eyes glowed a slight orange and Tanis' glowed a slight red. They both blinked in unison and smiled at each other. The ghostly image of Ares materialized between them and the battle was on.

Right off the bat the shadow fired a massive beam of red energy at each of them, but Shakara and Tanis both leapt into the air in two beautifully symmetrical arcs. The energy beams fired by the copy became insubstantial before colliding with the room's walls. Tanis and Shakara met in midair above the Shadow's head and dove down at it, both forming energy blades in each paw. The shadow raised an energy shield to block their attacks, and the crackling hiss from the swords striking the shield was impressive.

Shakara and Tanis broke away and began flying around the shadow in circles, going faster and faster as they went. The shadow fired orbs of red energy at them, but missed atrociously every time. Ashley gasped as one of the attacks flew right at her faster than she could dodge, but it too phased out and passed through her harmlessly.

Tanis and Shakara were now moving fast enough to leave thin glowing energy contrails behind them as they flew, and Ashley could only see a reddish-orange blur circling the shadow. She wondered how much more of the stress of spinning at those speeds their bodies could take. The two glowing blurs then began firing orbs of energy in at the shadow, but it simply raised its shield and absorbed the attacks. When that strategy failed to work, they rose up over the shadow's head and closed together. The shadow looked up at the glowing orange-red ring about its head and began charging on orb of energy to toss up at it. Before it could however, Tanis and Shakara let go and centrifugal force flung them apart, sending them streaking through the air faster than Ashley could see. They curved around and collided with the shadow's shield using all that built up momentum to strike two earth shattering blows at once on opposite sides. The shield buckled and popped like a compressed balloon, taking most of the force of the impact. Tanis and Shakara still had enough momentum left to carry them through it and to smash swords and feet first into the shadow's body.

The shadow's torso was utterly crushed as Tanis and Shakara connected with it with both feet. The combined double sword strikes and massive collapse of its body stunned the shadow enough to prevent it from using its recover ability in time. Tanis and Shakara took the remainder of the force of the impact on their powerful leg muscles as the soles of their feet met literally inside the shadow's body. They kicked off and did perfect back flips through the air and used their energy to stop themselves once they were upright. They landed on their feet and immediately ran up to the shadow's slumped form to deliver finishing blows. Tanis got his ironic revenge by chopping off the shadow's right hand where the Triforce would be located, and Shakara chopped through the shadow's second neck, ensuring it could no longer use its powers. Then both of them then reared back and stabbed the Shadow again, Tanis' energy sword carving a burning hole in its brain, and Shakara's sword incinerating its heart. Then the ravaged husk of what was left of the shadow's body faded away, and Tanis and Shakara let their energy swords disperse and stood straight with their eyes closed. When Tanis opened his eyes, the slight red glow had vanished, and he grinned broadly.

"Well, what do you think?" Tanis asked, his voice aglow with pride.

Ashley and all six of her Pokemon sat there unmoving, their mouths hanging open in awe. Ifrit was the only one who reacted, raising its arm and giving a thumbs-up sign.

"I guess they liked it eh?" Shakara whispered, and the two of them grinned at each other.

**Chapter XVIII – S4**

"Are you ready?" Tanis asked quietly.

"Solid and steady." Shakara replied.

The large steel sliding double doors to the council chamber stood silently before Shakara and her company. John and Ashley stood to her left and Tanis stood to her right. The sounds of subdued discussion made it muffled through the doors and other humans around them stood watching.

The doors began opening painfully slowly, and Shakara instinctively straightened her posture. The room beyond contained a large round table with ten people sitting around it, and then a large circular section of audience seating all around the main table. A bright white circular light hung on cords above the table, and the features of all the council members came into focus.

All the council members were within the 35-60 age range, and they were all wearing some sort of formal wear. Four of them were women and the other six were men, and the wrinkles of stress and age marred all their faces. General Wells was among them, still puffing on that same weathered cigar and emitting clouds of foul smoke. Shakara stopped before the table and nodded respectfully, and the council members returned the gesture.

"On this date, the council will announce our decision on the proposed plan to defeat Ares given by Shakara et Benca." The General said, standing and putting down his cigar.

"We have deliberated this proposal for three days now, and we have finally came to a decision through the process of council vote. Councilmen and women, please repeat your votes for all to see."

"Yea." said the General and three of the women of the council.

"Nay." Said the other six members.

There was a short pause and the General frowned slightly before speaking again, "The proposal has been rejected six to four."

Shakara had needed all three days of deliberation to cool down after her incident with John, and the fact that she was able to stand before the council now was a major accomplishment for her. But, that accomplishment was about to crumble away.

"What? Rejected? Why?" Shakara asked, anger evident in her voice.

"Why? Well, for one thing we had to sacrifice four of our ships and fifty of our finest men to capture that gunship, and we're not about to just give it away to someone who just happened to wander into our colony. We certainly don't want to use it until we can be sure that a plan will work either." One of the council members said.

"There's a good enough chance to justify it! Tanis and I have trained for three days and-"

"There are too many unknowns, period. End of argument, proposal rejected." The council member rudely said, cutting Shakara off sharply.

Shakara's tail instinctively rose to a readied position as anger began spilling over in her mind. Her blades glinted deadly smooth in the white light.

"You people are so sad. Sad beyond words. If my father weren't here to make you suffer, you'd do it to yourselves. You mistreat each other, oppress, and rule with your own iron fists just like he does. As far as I'm concerned, you're no better than him!" Shakara raged.

"How dare you?" a darker skinned woman on the council screeched. "Punishment for such insults calls for imprisonment!"

Armed guards suddenly came up behind Shakara, and she turned to Tanis.

"Please, don't make it any worse by fighting with them!" Tanis practically begged.

"I won't…" Shakara said quietly, turning to face the council, "But you all will regret this." She finished venomously.

Suddenly a deep and ominous rumbling emanated from the ceiling above, and dust and bits of the ceiling tumbled down to land on everyone's heads. The hanging lights began to sway precariously and empty chairs began to rattle across the floor on their own. Soon after a muffled boom shook through the room, followed by a series of resounding crashes. The same klaxon alarm from before blared to life and red lights replaced the white.

"Alert! All military personnel prepare for action! Three of Ares' diggers have entered the city through the main cave ceiling!" a male voice yelled over an unseen PA system.

All ten of the council members instantly turned and scowled at Shakara

"What are you looking at me for?" She shouted back at them.

The rumbling came to a crescendo again and suddenly the circular hanging lights fell and crashed to the table deafeningly. Chunks of steel and stone tumbled down and everyone in the room dove for cover. Shakara saw the red steel emerging from the ceiling and immediately knew that they needed to leave. She grabbed Ashley and Tanis and pulled them out of the room.

"Where are we going?" Ashley shouted over the exceedingly loud klaxon.

"We're going to take the gunship and leave. I can't afford to be seen here amongst these human rebels or else our plan will be wrecked!" Shakara replied.

"But what about all those people? Are we just going to leave them to be slaughtered?" Tanis protested.

"The only way we can help them is if we stop Ares, and we can't do that by fighting against hordes of Acolytes here!" Shakara shouted.

John suddenly caught up with them just as they reached the end of the hallway leading from the council chamber. He handed Tanis and Shakara large grey fabric hoods and cloaks.

"So you can go unseen without having to draw attention to yourselves with your powers." He said, panting heavily.

"Many thanks friend!" Tanis said gratefully and grabbed it to put it on quickly.

Shakara wrapped her tail around her waist and pulled the hood over her head. It blocked the annoying red flashing lights out of her eyes nicely. John swiped his card and the door swished open. The scene beyond struck Shakara with fear. The three diggers had come through the ceiling and knocked down the main light fixture, plunging the cavern into darkness. The city's normally dim yellow lights had converted to red flashing mode, making the squat concrete buildings appear as though they were on fire. The diggers had landed in the city's center, knocking down several buildings and had already begun releasing Acolytes. Red and blue laser bolts peppered the streets as the two forces began clashing in the darkness.

"John, where are you going?" Ashley shouted.

Shakara turned to see that John had just started to run off when Ashley shouted.

"I'm going to fight!" John shouted back.

"No! You can come with us! Escape the Acolytes and survive!"

"I can't! It's my duty to protect my people, and I'm going to fight even if it means being captured and tortured for days! Now go and stop Ares! Maybe some of us might stand a chance of surviving if you hurry!" John shouted, then turned and ran.

Shakara pulled Ashley away and the three of them began sprinting down the metal stairways to reach the cave floor. Another explosion erupted from the hallways that lead to the council chamber, but they had made it far enough down the stairs to avoid the blast. The explosions did knock out enough anchoring bolts to free the top of the scaffolded stairs from the stone of the cave wall, and the stairs began to tilt and fall.

"Grab a hold of the bars and don't use your powers Tanis!" Shakara shouted.

The stairs stopped falling when they were at a 45 degree angle from the cave wall, and all three of the companions clung to the hand rails for dear life. There was still another 70 feet between them and a solid stone floor. Shakara's mind search desperately for a solution as her frail fingers began losing their grip on the railing. She dug her claws into the metal and swung her feet up to get a foothold.

The situation deteriorated further when a group of Acolytes appeared in the blasted-out doors of the hallway above them. They were covered in silvery cybernetic implants and carried extremely bulky laser rifles. Shakara knew that the psionic blockers were all that stood between her group of friends and a vicious mind-flaying. One of the Acolytes pointed down at them and then all the laser rifles were aimed down at them. The only things on Shakara's mind at that moment were fear of escaping alive and worrying that the Acolytes would notice her paws clinging onto the rails. Thankfully the cloak had been fastened tight around her, but it still would not conceal her two knobby fingered paws. Shakara knew that they hadn't noticed them when they started firing the laser rifles down at them.

One of the first beams fired struck a rail supporting the stairs, melting through the steel cleanly and causing the stairs to fall lurchingly down to where they caught and hung perpendicular to the cave wall. Due to this rapid fall, all the other beams missed and Shakara knew they had been lucky. But there was still a good fifty or sixty feet to the unfriendly floor below, so they weren't out of the woods yet.

"Ready to give up and have Tanis fly us to the bottom yet?" Ashley shouted.

"QUIET!" Shakara screamed, worried that the Acolytes would hear.

Shakara's mind raced, and she saw two cables still holding the stairway up, one right next to her and one next to Ashley. She got an idea and decided to bank on the hope that the stairs were still anchored at the bottom. She edged her shoulder over to the cable and sliced her shoulder-mounted blade through the cloak and then the cable. When all the weight fell on the other cable in one instant, it snapped violently and the stairs began falling again.

Just as Shakara had hoped, the anchoring at the base of the stairs kept them from falling straight down. Instead, they swung in a circular arc until they slammed into the next layers of scaffolding below, dislodging Shakara and her companions onto the study walkway.

Shakara heard a loud clang before she could get on her feet. She looked up to see that the Acolytes had just dropped rappelling lines down to the next intact level of scaffolding and were coming down the wall where the stairs had been.

"Come on, let's hurry!" she shouted, and climbed to her feet.

They managed to stay several levels below the Acolytes as they raced for the next set of stairs. They were very close to the hallway leading to the hangar now, and Shakara hoped with every inch of herself that the Acolytes hadn't gotten there first. Passing a weapons locker that had opened when the alarm was triggered, Shakara grabbed three laser rifles and tossed one each to Tanis and Ashley. She felt better having a means to defend herself that wouldn't give away her identity.

After finally reaching the cave floor, Shakara turned and fired up at the Acolytes who were still 2 stories up. Unable to raise their shields due to the psi-blockers, the Acolytes were skewered by the glowing blue beams and toppled over, unable to recover themselves either. Shakara gunned all of them down one by one, and actually enjoyed doing it. Then she turned and ran down the hallway toward the hangar. Finding the steel door at the end of the hall closed, she simply fired her laser rifle into it, melting through and making an opening for herself.

The hangar was fortunately intact, and most of the people there had already fled. One of the last remaining human ships rose up out of its docking clamps on its hover drives and soared up through the launch tunnel and out of sight as Shakara and her group mad a mad dash toward the gunship. A wave of intense heat from the human ship's engines washed over them and the lines of lights in the launch tunnel flashed as the escaping ship exited through it. Shakara felt the fur on her body tingle and stand up, and she knew that the linear inductors in the tunnels were still working. She wondered if the human ship's engines had generated a lot of radiation and if they had all been exposed to it. She realized that it didn't matter though, they probably were going to die soon anyway.

A feet ahead of them a human man, shaking with fear, tried to climb into the gunship. Shakara knew that they couldn't reach him in time to stop him from closing them out, so she leveled her laser rifle and fired. The blue beam burned a smoldering hole in the man's head and he tumbled to the floor limply. The way to freedom was now hopefully clear.

"Did you really need to shoot him in the head like that?" Ashley screamed in outrage as the alarms blared on.

"It was the only way to make sure his adrenaline wouldn't push him to climb in and close us out despite his injury, and besides, it was a lot quicker and more painless than if I had shot him in the back." Shakara said as they neared the gunship's dock.

Ashley and Tanis jumped aboard quickly, but Shakara took a quick moment to honor the man she had just killed. She flipped him over on his back crossed his arms over his chest, and closed his still shocked eyes.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, and then ducked inside the gunship.

The inside of the gunship had been modified extensively by the humans. The red paint had been painted over with olive drab, and all the seats had been ripped out and replaced with human-shaped seats. All the controls had been labeled with post-it notes and a pair of fuzzy dice had been hung from the ceiling with string and a piece of tape. Shakara ripped them down and tossed them aside, then sat in the pilot's seat. Tanis sat in the gunner's seat and Ashley was once again banished to the rear troop compartment.

Shakara flipped on all the necessary activation protocols and the warmly familiar thrumming of the engines filled her ears. She tried to take off but the gunship simply shook in place and made loud clanking and grinding sounds.

"The docking clamps are still engaged!" Tanis said in an annoyed tone and pointed to a steel switch box that had been crudely bolted to the control panel. A little piece of paper had been taped to it that read 'clamps'.

Shakara rolled her eyes and flipped the switch. One pronounced thumping clang echoed through the cockpit and they were pressed into their seats as the ship jumped into the air. Shakara eased the controls forward and she felt the electric tingle in the air as the magnetic fields automatically activated.

"You might want to buckle up!" Shakara shouted

Ashley yelped as the field grabbed the gunship and accelerated them through the tunnel.

"Are you alright?" Tanis shouted back to her.

"Bruised up but fine!" Ashley replied.

Shakara let go of the controls as the fields steered the ship up through the tunnels. They continued accelerating at a phenomenal rate, even as they entered an upward corkscrew to gain vertical distance. Soon the rows of tunnel lights were nothing but blurred streaks of light. Shakara felt their acceleration push her painfully into the human shaped seat, like someone was stacking anvils on her. Barely a minute passed before a bright white light flashed and engulfed them, and they had exited the tunnel and were flying out through open air.

As John had said, they were flying through the air at supersonic speeds at this point and the ground below them shot past in a dizzying blur. Shakara let their momentum carry them as far away from the human base as it could before they could be seen by Ares' ships. They decelerated rapidly, and Shakara slowly pulled the controls to slow them down further. They had already cleared the forest and were out over the sea, and suddenly a psychic voice entered Shakara's mind.

"We sense a human presence aboard your ship. Your ruse will not be tolerated rebels. Prepare to be destroyed."

Tanis looked over at Shakara with terror. "Tell them it's you!" he said frantically.

Shakara tried to make contact with the Acolytes, but they were blocking out all signals, including all psychic contact. It felt as if she were trying to break through a brick wall with her head. She pulled back and frowned grimly.

"We're doomed, the plan is a failure. We're not going to be able to make it to the Black River alive." Shakara said, letting go of the controls.

"What kind of talk is that?" Ashley suddenly shouted, having came up from the troop cabin.

"We're finished! Kaput! Gone with the wind! There's no point in trying!" Shakara said menacingly, getting really sick of Ashley's attitude.

Ashley suddenly grabbed the fabric of Shakara's hood and drew her closer. This human had real nerve.

"Listen! Tanis and I didn't come this far by just giving up! We stuck to it and kept trying, no matter how grim the odds got! We even destroyed half of your father's fleet during the initial invasion, thanks to our perseverance! And we're not going to give up now, are we?" She said.

"Nope." Tanis said, crossing his arms defiantly. "Better to rush out and meet death head on than to let it come to us."

Shakara sighed and pushed Ashley away. "We're not going to make it very far…" she said quietly.

"We'll make it far enough on our will to survive alone!" Tanis said heartily.

"That's the spirit!" Ashley said, patting Tanis on the back.

"Let's go, to the Black River." Tanis said, and Shakara sighed heavily one more time before gripping the controls.

A/N: Hehe, I bet this cliffhanger is intensely painful eh? Well don't worry, I'll try not to leave you hanging for to long. How are our three companions going to succeed at vanquishing Ares now? Stick around and find out! And since has now implemented a review response system, I might jump in and answer any questions you might have in your review, barring the possibility of spoilers though.


	20. Part II: Resurrection Chunk 7

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: For this chunk, I will not comment on how long it took to make it! Oh wait, I just did! Damn! At any rate, there'll be a brief interlude at the beginning of this chunk before continuing on. Hope you enjoy!

**_Part II - Resurrection_**

**Interlude**

Entry 44700

Fate it seems, is always full of little surprises for me. Just as I prepared to move forward with my plan to personally attack the human colony responsible for Shakara's death, I received word from Anmor back in Dantun.

Rebellion! Of all things to pull me away from my revenge, the Dantunians have risen up against my puppets, the Iresians. How ironic that such an annoying turn of events like this could clue me in as to the final solution to my ultimate problem? One of my men working inside the Dantunian Council stumbled across a much sweeter target than the human colony, one that I plan on taking for myself. Though I'll regret missing out on killing each of those rebellious humans with my own hands, I can later relive it through the eyes of the Acolytes who accomplish it for me. As of now, I have a greater task ahead of me. My message to the people of Dantun and the surrounding countries must be unmistakable: rebellion is impossible.

But, at the same time, another thought strikes me. My quarry, who has stolen away with that most valuable golden triangle, must not be given any reason to flee where I believe him or her to be hiding. All the years I've spent trying to find him must not be wasted over a rash and careless action. If he is hiding in Dantun as my agent believes, then there must be a way of striking at the country without driving him out. If I were to smite the kingdom to ruin, he might flee and be lost for another forty years. No, I need to be a lot more subtle than usual; I need to think of a plan to make him feel secure. But how to reconcile it with my revenge against Dantun? This is a matter I must think on for some while. Perhaps the Time Medallion should provide me with an answer once more.

**Chapter XIX - R13**

Ruru was progressing much quicker on the mural than she anticipated. Sunlight that filtered through the cave from above lit her work during the day, and torchlight lit her work by night. Her hand danced across the cavern walls like a fluttering dove, and all of her years of practice came to fruition as she completed her work. Vivid dashes of orange and red slid side-by-side with somber streaks of blue and green. For the first time in years, Ruru suddenly felt happiness again, and not because of the possibility of victory in the future, but because she felt she had finally managed to pay tribute to her older sister's memory. As she finished painting the last few daubs of orange onto the Gerudo plains, she had felt something missing, so she decided to paint Kalana into the mural as well

At the farthest left portion of the mural, where the sun dipped into the horizon and set the orange of the Gerudo plains aflame, Ruru painted her elder sister standing on the crest of a hill and looking down at Hyrule. She painted the orange glow of the sun glinting off of the deadly edge of Kalana's heirloom scimitar, while at the same time glowing diffusely off of her figure like it always did in the early palace mornings. With the orange glows of the sun shimmering over all of Hyrule and Kalana standing and smiling down over it all, Ruru finally set down her brush with one great and heartfelt sigh.

The still air was abruptly filled with a muffled cry from above, and Ruru practically jumped out of her seat. The sound was more of a roar, and it certainly wasn't made by any human vocal cord. Then a chorus of battle cries from the Dead Lands above echoed through the hollow caves and Ruru's mind locked down in a panic.

Adrenaline pulsed through Ruru's veins and she drew her scimitar and stood to listen. More roars and yells made it diffusely through the stone. Ruru knew something was very wrong, the attack was not supposed to happen for another five or so days, but from what she could tell, it had just started above her. She could barely make out the clashing of weapons above her, and there was no doubt in her mind. She quickly ran over to the pool at the end of the cavern and began slapping her hands on the water as hard as she could.

After a few moments Onta emerged. "What's wrong?" he asked urgently.

"Listen!" Ruru said, and let the dull noise of battle above reach Onta's ears.

"What? Already?" Onta said, climbing up out of the water.

"It shouldn't be this early, the Bensorian dragons probably haven't even arrived yet. This cannot be good." Ruru said.

A cold, grim expression gripped Onta's face, and Ruru understood it perfectly. She knew her face reflected it too, this would certainly mean defeat and most likely death. The happiness she had felt earlier sank away, leaving nothing but a cold pit of fear and helplessness. She could tell it was exactly what Onta was feeling too.

"Is there anything we can do at all?" Onta asked.

"Just sit and be quiet. We might stand a chance of going undiscovered after the battle if Aquel refused to let the refugees into the caves as I requested. Most likely however, no matter what we do won't matter, Ares will win anyway." Ruru said.

Ruru sat back down on the stone of the cave floor. Her shaky hands dropped her scimitar, which now felt heavy and useless in her sweaty, clammy hands. She looked back up at her mural and frowned. Just as her eyes focused on it, an excruciating scream from a human throat rose above the general battle sounds. It drew out into a laborious wail of torturous pain, and was ended sharply by what Ruru knew to be a dragon's jaws.

Seemingly eternal were the minutes of battle sounds that followed, and Ruru felt sick as she sat there helpless to do anything and unable to know how badly the battle was faring. As she listened the human and dragon cries followed in quick succession. After a few more minutes, blood began to seep down through the caves above and to fall into Ruru's cavern. She felt it spatter her head and then roll down her face, a horrific rain of lifeblood that symbolized death's amusement park above. A trail of seeping blood ran down the cave walls and into Ruru's mural, falling through the still wet painted orange skies and across the portrayal of Kalana. It distorted Kalana's form and soon another trail ran down and smeared another portion of the Gerudo plains. It was a symbol that Ruru saw clearly and yet could not accept. The thought of her people's death was very clear now, but still too painful to accept.

Soon, the strangest thing began to happen. In between the cries of pain and death, Ruru heard human voices cheering victoriously. Though the battle still continued on its grisly course and more blood continued to seep into the cave, the victory cheers became louder and more frequent. Whether these cheers were Dantunian or Iresian, Ruru couldn't tell for sure, but they certainly sounded like the joyful cries of freed people. A new burst of dragon roars interrupted them, and then the sounds of battle became even louder as Ruru listened. But a few seconds later the cheers intensified even further, this time sounding like the utter glee of those who had thrown down their oppressors. Ruru would not let her own wishes cloud her views of reality however, and her eyes continued to remain fixed on the streaks of blood that defaced her work of art.

The sounds of battle began to quiet down now, the thumping of many foot moved off into the distance and the cheers and cries moved with them. Ruru felt an almost physical pain to be able to see what was happening, and for a moment things were nearly silent. Then, what sounded like some kind of demon roar shook the walls of the cavern and dislodged bits of stone from the cave ceiling. A deep rumbling reverberated through the stone following it, and then the loudest cheer of all tore through the air. It was as if one of the sides had finally achieved victory. Ruru's mind then began counting the minutes before she and Onta would be spotted and captured, and the little pit of cold helplessness grew into a large cloud of the finality of death. She sank to the ground, letting her eyes close on the small tears that had formed in them. She decided that it was here that she would await death, and that she would not move from that spot until it found her. She shrugged with a dark smile when she heard footsteps coming through the caves toward her, and she thanked the Goddesses above that they weren't going to force her to wait long for her death.

The footsteps ran up to Ruru and suddenly she felt arms grab around her and lift her up to spin her around through the air. She opened her eyes to see Aquel's face before her, flushed red and sweaty.

"I can't believe it! We did it!" He yelled joyously, holding her up in the air and spinning her around in circles like a groom spins his bride.

"Wha-wha-what?" Ruru stammered, unable to believe what she was hearing.

Aquel set her down carelessly but didn't drop her, and then began running in place with a purely joyous expression on his face.

"Oh you should have been there to see it, it was tremendous! The Iresians came upon us from the skies, and caught us off guard. But it was like bam! Boom! Pow! Sching! We kicked their tails and carved them up! It was like nothing I've ever seen before!"

"But..but how? This early?" Ruru said, still stuttering.

"If you have any doubt…" Isaac's voice said from around the corner, "Then behold!"

Isaac stepped into view dramatically, holding a severed head in each hand. One was the red topped head of Anmor Issyth of Iress, and the other the spiked head of Ares himself. Words could not describe the shock that ran through Ruru's mind and body. In an instant she went from despair and expecting death to utterly joyous.

"And if that's not enough either, then behold this!" Isaac said, and raised his right hand.

A glimmer of gold filled the half dark of the cave and Ruru's pulse jumped further when she saw two golden triangles in the back of Isaac's hand. Isaac grinned victoriously as the red blood from Ares' head dripped down across the shimmering Triforce pieces.

"I never doubted it." Isaac finished, his pride soaking every word.

"I…I…I don't know what to say!" Ruru said, her voice now breaking on the verge of crying for joy.

"There's no need to say anything! Follow me, we're going to the surface!" Aquel said, and grabbed Ruru by the shoulder.

For the first time in untold years, Ruru exited the cavern into full sunlight. The clear blue sky above was empty of the deadly dragons, and the plains below were a gruesome scene of true bloodbath. But standing amongst the dead were the victorious Dantunians, their silvery-green armor shining victoriously over the death at their feet. Among them were a few scattered deep blue dragons, their Bensorian riders in matching colored armor. All of them were raising their weapons high, chanting victory rites. When Aquel appeared, they crowded around him and engulfed him in their revelries. Ruru found the elation infectious, she raised her Scimitar high and cried "Victory" in Hylian.

Onta came up behind her and embraced her.

"We finally get to go home! He cried, and she found herself crying with him. It was the first time in her memory since hearing of the Iresians that she could be truly happy without a cloud of worry staining her mind.

Aquel lead Ruru out of the Dead Lands that day, and once again she felt the glowing warmth of the Triforce in her hands. The elemental gems twinkled with a new light when she held them in the open air, and she felt that she could breathe deeply and fully again like she hadn't in her cave. When they reached the green edges of the Dead Lands where the Grasslands began, she felt another joy enter her heart, now she could feel the stirring softness of long grass on her legs once more. Aquel lead her to a small, secluded hilltop castle, and inside he introduced her to Eumil Ayatta, the newly crowned Dantunian King. The meeting was concise and a little tense, but the regent was grateful to her for keeping the Triforce out of Ares' hands and he granted her one of the captured Iresian dragons to keep as her own. They agreed that she would use the dragon to fly back to Hyrule and bring word of their victory. Isaac and Aquel would ride below on horseback and follow her to Hyrule.

As the sun finally set over the now peaceful land of Dantun, Ruru came to the outer gates of the castle to meet up with Aquel and Isaac one more time before riding off. She also got a chance to meet the dragon she had been given. Like all of its kind, the Iresian Blood Dragon was smaller than the average sized dragon with a larger wingspan and red scales. It was sitting curled up at the castle gates, a look of futility and sadness in its majestic eyes.

"If the Iresians had given him a name, we don't know it." Isaac said, walking alongside Ruru as she approached the dragon.

Ruru patted the dragon on the back of his head. "So many of your brothers died today. I'm very sorry." She said.

The dragon looked at her for a moment, and then looked away. Its expression of sadness did not change.

Ruru held her right hand on the back of the Dragon's scaly head, and held the elemental gems in her other hands. She felt the warmth of the gems and of the dragon's blood flowing past her fingertips. She suddenly felt as though she could sense the dragon's thoughts, and she tried to make contact with him.

"Why are you so sad?" She asked.

"_I'm sad for you."_ The dragon replied, its mind's voice filled with woe.

"What are you doing?" Isaac suddenly interrupted, putting a hand of Ruru's shoulder.

"I was seeing if I could communicate with the dragon." Ruru replied as if it were painfully obvious.

"I don't think you should." Isaac said, frowning.

"Why not?" Ruru asked confusedly.

"Well, this fellow may look placid on the inside, but you never know what thoughts of anger or destruction lurk in his head. He was trained by the Iresians to be a killing machine you know!" Isaac said scornfully.

"I know…It just feels like there's something more to him than that…" Ruru said.

Suddenly Aquel trotted up to them, holding the bridles of a horse in each hand. There was one for him and one for Isaac.

"Ready to go everyone?" He asked cheerfully.

"As I've ever been!" Isaac said. "I'll lead the way for you Aquel. You'd better be off Ruru, and be careful with that dragon!"

Ruru sighed and climbed onto the saddle on the dragon's back. "I'll see you in Hyrule!" Aquel shouted merrily, climbing onto his horse as Ruru's dragon took off.

The twilight skies were easy flying for Ruru, there was still no wind in the air ever since that morning. She soon felt bored and tried to make contact with the dragon's mind again.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

The dragon, appearing mindless now that he had a task, did not reply.

"Well, maybe it would help you if I took off this saddle." Rurur said, making sure to keep her grip strong as she unfastened the buckles.

The saddle fell away easily, carrying with it an Iresian spear and a supply sack. The dragon was flying much lighter now, but Ruru was having to wrap her arms around his neck to keep a steady grip on his smooth scales.

"Is that better, will you talk to me now?" Ruru asked persistently.

"_What for? What is there to talk about?_" The dragon's voice asked in her mind.

"Well you can start with why you're looking so gloomy! Did the Iresians really treat you badly?"

The dragon was utterly silent for a moment. Then it spoke once more. "_They never spoke to me, not once, except to curse and reprimand me. Their message was clear enough in the blows of their flails."_

"They hit you with flails?" Ruru asked, feeling outraged.

"_Whenever I did something that they didn't want me to do. But that's the past, and what is done is done._"

Ruru felt mortified, she remained silent for nearly twenty minutes as she clung to the back of the dragon's neck. When she looked in at it closely, she could see that there were patches of younger, brighter colored scales among the older, darker colored ones. This could only be caused by a complete and forceful removal of the old scales, by such a method as the crushing blow of a flail-like weapon. Obviously this dragon had since healed and grown the newer, brighter colored scales since then.

"What's your name?" Ruru asked.

"_I don't have one."_ The dragon replied tersely.

Ruru thought for a moment. She pondered the idea of a name until she pulled the answer out of her mind. "I'm going to call you Nulive, after the name of the western province of Dantun where our forces were victorious." Ruru said.

The dragon grunted, not disapprovingly, but not necessarily approvingly either.

"Well Nulive, since you're my dragon now, I want to get to know you better! You're more than just a battle machine or a way of transportation to me, and I want to know how you feel on the inside!"

"_There's not much to feel anymore. What passion I have ever felt was beaten out of me in my youth in Iress._" Nulive replied coldly.

The rest of the flight they flew in the darkness of night. The temperature dropped rapidly and Ruru began to shiver as they soared through the empty skies. Another several hours passed before Ruru finally saw the twinkling of lights on the ground in the distance. She tried to look down and see the state of the land, but they were still too high up to make anything out.

"Can you star descending now please?" Ruru asked politely. "We're nearing my home now."

Nulive tucked his wings in and the both of them began to plummet toward the earth like stones. Ruru knew that they were in no danger, as long as Nulive pulled up in time. She had seen birds do this all the time, diving and dipping through the skies as she had watched them in her youth. That still didn't prevent her from feeling frightened as they fell at increasingly high speeds towards the now seemingly unfriendly ground below. Nulive pulled out of his dive about a hundred feet away from the ground, and  
Ruru had to dig her shoes into his side to maintain her grip. She apologized to him and looked down at her home country.

The changes to Hyrule were subtle, and Ruru almost didn't notice them at first. The forests were mostly intact, but there were several areas that had been logged. The farms and grasslands were also unharmed, but there were strange dark stripes in between them where the roads had been. Ruru squinted to try and see what they were, but couldn't tell in the dark. Ruru looked up and saw that Hyrule Castle still stood proudly in the distance, but it flew under the banner of Ares and sat in the shadow of an even larger fortress. The menacing fortress took Ruru's breath away as she looked at it. When she saw moonlight reflect off of its sleek form, she realized that it must be made of steel. She felt a pang of fear in her heart when she tried to imagine how it had been constructed, but she brushed it off, reminding herself of the heads of the overlords in Isaac's hands.

There were hundreds of lights on the sides of Death Mountain, and when Ruru looked closer she saw that the Mountain had been encased with an industrial city. Multiple plumes of smoke rose from the factories and clouds of smog clung to the peak. The ring of clouds that always spun around the crater at the mountaintop was huge, easily triple its normal size. Ruru remembered back to that old Goron folktale, that the ring cloud would always indicate whether there was something amiss in the mountain.

Ruru's heart was saddened when she saw the state of the Gerudo plains. All of their farms were going to weeds and the desert had already begun to reclaim the lands that the Gerudos had worked so hard to cultivate. The Palace was also falling into disrepair, just as Isaac had said. The geometric designs were fading and chipping off, and the roof was full of holes in several places. Two of the five spires had totally collapsed. The bridge over the massive gorge at the eastern border of Gerudo lands looked rickety and about to fall. The stable alongside the gorge was empty and run down. Not a single Gerudo could be seen in the shadowed plains.

Ruru landed Nulive outside the front gates of the Palace and then lead him into an empty grain silo out back. He fit perfectly inside and would probably not be found, since the silo had obviously not been entered in years. When Ruru entered the Palace itself she found the halls empty and dark, and a few Gerudos were sleeping in their rooms. Ruru was too tired at this point to look around for anyone she knew, so she went straight for her room in the highest tower. Her room was untouched, except for a single hole in the ceiling on the opposite side of the room from her bed. She watched the starry night sky through it until she fell asleep.

**Chapter XX – J8**

Jenna had to control her rapid breathing as she slipped through the dark corridors of Ares' base. The ninja gear she was wearing was now soaked through with sweat and it clung to her uncomfortably. Kalana was leading the way through the knighted passages.

Kalana lead them through the fortress unseen, avoiding the patrols and clinging to the shadows. The fact that she had been able to sneak in ahead and disable the security systems was allowing all nine of them to make it through the halls undetected.

The three bloody swords of Ares were emblazoned all over the steel walls of each corridor, and doubt was equally stamped on Jenna's heart and mind. But every time it felt like these feelings were about to overcome her, Jenna remembered Isaac and her fiery thirst for revenge would push them back.

Rounding a corner, Jenna's group came upon a door with the picture of a Venus Djinn painted on it, as well as the words "Authorized Personnel Only" written on it. Kalana punched a code onto the keypad and the door swished open, letting all of them inside.

Each of the Djinni were individually held in glowing energy sphere prisons of opposing energy signatures. The spheres were all stacked in rows on steel shelves, with each of the four element groups of Djinni having its own shelf. The little glass-like orbs shimmered in the dark as Jenna and her group pilfered them.

"Hurry up and set them to yourselves everyone!" Felix whispered urgently.

Jenna opened the capsules by pressing the single red button on the strip of metal that projected the energy field. The gathered up all eight of her old Mard Djinni and set them on her suit. She was used to having them stick to her normally thick clothes, so it was very weird to feel their sticky little feet through the ninja suit. She felt their elemental power surge through her being and battle lust began to fill her mind.

"Alright everyone, listen. When we enter Ares' sleep chamber, we will surround his bed as quietly as we can, and I'll take the Stone of Sages out of his hand. Then we shall strike his mortal form together with our most powerful attacks, got it?" Kalana whispered.

"Hold on a second," Piers quietly requested, "This seems weird to me."

"Now's not the time to be discussing! We need to move now!" Kalana urged.

"I don't care! Something's not right here. It just seems too convenient that you could know how to disable the base's defenses, how to navigate its halls unseen, and the entry codes for the rooms!"

Kalana looked at Piers with a deadly expression. Then, out of the blue, she drew her sword and lunged at him. Piers managed to draw his Excalibur sword in time to block the blow, but its impact was still felt upon the entire party's plans and hopes.

"I knew she was a spy!" Felix shouted angrily and ran at her with his Sol Blade.

Kalana twirled around and dove to the floor to dodge the blow, only to have Mia smash her leg with her Tungsten Mace.

"Don't kill her!" Jenna shouted insistently.

"Why not?" Garet yelled, "She's probably led us to our doom!"

Jenna swung her Masamune Sword, but fell short intentionally. Instead of rending Kalana's spine longwise, the tip of the sword sliced halfway through the metal collar around Kalana's neck, which then emitted a burst of light and sparks, as well as a loud crackling sound. Kalana suddenly screamed out in pain, collapsed to the floor, and began thrashing around in agony.

"Help me out here!" Jenna shouted, grabbing one side of the damaged collar and pulling.

Felix, Piers and Ivan all grabbed a hold so that there were two people on either side of the gash in the collar. It stubbornly held for three tugs before breaking apart with another crash and shower of sparks.

Kalana stopped thrashing and fell still, then sat up with an utterly bewildered look on her face. She uttered several words in a language that Jenna couldn't understand and looked at them fearfully. Jenna saw that there weren't any of Ares' minions pouring into the room, so she assumed that Kalana hadn't signaled for them. She removed the ninja mask and stepped up to Kalana.

Kalana began speaking rapidly in that same unrecognizable language and Jenna interrupted her, "Who are you?"

Kalana's face was suddenly painted with a confused look. "Kalana Qindalo, 31st Elder of the Gerudos…can you tell me where I am?" she asked.

"In one of Ares' fortresses on the southernmost tip of the Gondowan Continent. Don't you remember anything?" Jenna asked.

"No. I'm definitely not in Hyrule anymore…" Kalana said.

"Listen, we don't have time for this. If she doesn't remember anything, we're going to have to escape this fortress alone without any guidance and avoid the patrols!" Felix said pressingly.

"What about Ares and the Stone of Sages?" Jenna asked angrily, still craving her revenge.

"Listen, Kalana was obviously laying a trap for us, so there's no doubt that Ares is ready and waiting for us with a swarm of his cronies. And if we delay for two long, he might come looking for us!" Felix said.

"What do you mean by calling me a spy?" Kalana asked indignantly.

"Listen, we'll have to explain later. For now, you need to be quiet and follow us while we try to get out of here." Jenna said to Kalana calmly.

"Should we even be taking her with us? She might be leading us on again right now!" Garet said forcefully.

"We don't leave anyone behind who needs our help, Garet!" Mia said angrily.

"That's the same policy that got us in this position in the first place!" Garet almost yelled.

Felix grabbed Kalana's shoulder and stood in front of the door. "We're leaving now, all of us!" he said.

Jenna pulled the ninja mask back over her face just before Felix pushed the button to open the door. When she saw the outline of an Acolyte in the hall beyond, she darted out of view and into the shadows. The rest of her party managed to make it to the shadows before the Acolyte turned to look, but Kalana still stood there in front of the door, struck with fear. The Acolyte stood there and eyed Kalana for a moment, and then bowed its head respectfully and walked on. The door slid closed again and nobody moved or spoke for a few moments.

"How am I still alive?" Kalana whispered, her eyes open wide in terror.

Jenna put a finger to her lips to indicate that silence was necessary, then pointed to her forehead. Kalana reached up and felt the symbol on her own forehead and then jerked her hand back. Her face was suddenly twisted with revulsion.

They all waited for a couple more minutes before leaving the Djinn room to ensure that the Acolyte was far off. Felix lead them back through the dimly lit halls, retracing their steps as best he could. The winding passages formed a maze not easily navigated, and they had not marked their path in any way.

"One of them is coming! Everyone hide except Kalana!" Felix whispered urgently. Jenna and her company ducked around corners and into shadows. Jenna listened intently as the footsteps approached.

"Please find a different route, this one is being used." Kalana's voice said, trying to sound authoritative.

"Agent K, why are you not giving orders using standard telepathic frequency?" the acolyte's voice asked curiously.

"I…uh…um…am unable to speak telepathically at the moment…I hit my head." Kalana said, frantically ad-libbing.

"Then I will accompany you to medlab to have you examined." The Acolyte said simply.

"No!I…uh…am in the middle if an important assignment here! Top priority, straight from Ares himself you know!"

"State the mission codename please." The Acolyte requested.

"Uh…ummmm…" Kalana stammered.

"Agent K, where is your neck collar?" the Acolyte asked.

"It…well,"

"You have five seconds to respond." The Acolyte said, its voice now threatening.

Ivan jumped out of the shadows, his staff glowing purple with the energy of his Jupiter Djinn. The staff connected with the Acolyte's skull and completely crushed it, knocking it to the ground dead in an instant. Jenna swung around the corner with her Masamune Sword and cut through both of its necks at once, just to be sure. The red blood flowed freely across the floor.

The hallways lit up with red alarm lights and doors all around them swished open. Hundreds of Acolytes suddenly surrounded them in all 4 branching hallways. Jenna knew her death was at hand, so she decided to at least try to fulfill her revenge wish and rushed forward at a group of them to attack. She unleashed the power of the Mars Djinn called Cannon, which blasted apart the lead Acolyte's shield with a massive orb of flames. Ares had apparently cranked up each individual Djinn's power. Jenna didn't have time to think about it though, she ran forward and lopped off the Acolyte's head with the Masamune sword. The one standing behind it waved its hands however, and Jenna's senses went black.

A/N: The final two singular Jenna and Ruru chapters have come to a close! The next time we see these two fantastic characters will be from the points of view of Tanis' group, and the plotline convergence is nearly at hand! There are only a few more chunks left before Legacies comes to its unpredictable conclusion, so brace yourselves to withstand just a few more cliffhangers! XD


	21. Part II: Resurrection Chunk 8

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Alrighty, this chunk is a nice, hefty 15 pages. Now we're neck deep in the rising action part of the story, and the first big unexpected twist will be coming at you near the end of this chunk! Buckle up and enjoy!

**_Part II - Resurrection_**

**Chapter XXI – T15**

Tanis had never really bothered imagining what the Black River might look like up close, he only ever regarded it as an easily forgettable little black stripe in the vast blueness of the sky. As the view screen of his group's gunship darkened into the star-studded blackness of space, he got a very close look at it. Its edges were undefined and hard to see against the equally dark expanses of space. But its center was easy to tell, no light from any stars managed to filter through, and bright blips and balls of red light sped through it at varying velocities.

"So now what? Do we just fly into it?" Tanis asked.

"Are you kidding? It'd rip the gunship in half! We need to infiltrate one of my father's space stations and use one of the designated entry facilities to avoid getting torn up by the forces in the tunnel wall!" Shakara exclaimed.

"And just how are we going to do that with every one of Ares' ships gunning for us?" Ashley asked incredulously, her voice clear from back in the troop cabin.

"Speaking of that!" Tanis shouted, pointing at several red dots that had appeared on the side of the view screen.

Shakara jerked the controls around and they turned around a full 180 degrees. The Black River shrunk far into the distance and converged on one bright, far-off cluster of red lights. The gunship's engines thrummed loudly as Shakara maxed them out, and Tanis winced as the acceleration pressed him against his tail.

"My father doesn't have any security systems in his stations since humanity's been banned from ever building spacecraft again. He hasn't expected one of his ships to be captured either. The doors won't even be closed." Shakara said, trying to sound reassuring.

A bright red beam of light flashed by on the gunship's right, and Tanis knew it was time for him to be the gunner. He found that the control sticks had also been modified to fit humans, and holding them in his paws was awkward at best. When he moved the sticks, a smaller picture appeared on his side of the view screen and followed wherever his turrets pointed that was out of the main front view. Seven other gunships were in pursuit, the closest one charging its laser turrets to fire again. Tanis moved the aiming reticule over it and prepared to fire.

"Wait!" Shakara suddenly shouted. "Don't fire on them or you'll wreck the plan even further than it is already! If I'm to convince my father that I want to join him then my gunship can't have fired on any of his forces!"

Three more beams flashed past and the gunship rattled as its energy shields absorbed the fourth.

"Well, unless you've got another solution!" Tanis shouted.

"Watch." Shakara said confidently.

Shakara slowly steered them down closer and closer to the Black River, and Tanis felt them begin accelerating even more, despite the fact that the engines were already at maximum output.

"Um, I distinctly remember something about being ripped in half!" Tanis said nervously.

"I'm not flying into the Black River, just close to it. The Acolytes won't fire on us when we're this close to it. If any energy beams strike it, they might compromise the stability of the energy sheath encasing the dimensional vortex, and the results could be disastrous.

"I'm guessing that the radiant energy fields from the River are what are causing us to accelerate even further?" Tanis said.

Shakara simply nodded as she held the control sticks steady. The red lights in the distance slowly resolved into a massive station. The enormous width of the Black River passed through the station's bottom, causing the intersecting energy fields to emit a bright red glow.

"We need to start decelerating!" Tanis said, overcome with nervousness again as the station whizzed up towards them.

"I know!" Shakara said, her voice harsh with irritation as she eased the controls upward.

Their speed began dropping away the moment they pulled up and out of the fields surrounding the River. They had left their pursuers far behind, and their momentum carried them up to the station until they were a mere 40 feet or so from its hull, and now all they needed to do was find a door.

"Look out!" Tanis shouted when his screen showed a glowing red charge on one of the station's weapons towers.

Shakara jammed the controls forward and the gunship leapt towards the station's hull. She pulled up just a second before a collision could occur and a loud screeching sound of metal scraping metal raked the air inside the cramped cockpit.

"Cutting it a little close are we?" Tanis remarked, grasping his head painfully.

"We're inside the minimum firing spheres for those weapons towers, so they can't fire at us anymore. As long as we stay a foot or two away from the hull we'll be fine." Shakara said.

They flew around the station's hull in a continuous straight line until they eventually came across an open entrance to the docking bays. Shakara flew them in and they passed row after row of darkened, docked gunships. A few of them flickered to life and undocked, providing a whole new set of pursuers.

"Don't worry, they won't fire on us inside the station." Shakara said calmly.

"Humans, this is your last warning! Halt now or we will fire! This escape attempt is futile!" an Acolyte's voice said psychically to the three of them. It sounded angry and slightly disturbed.

Shakara grinned as if to say 'Go figure', and then pushed hard on the controls to accelerate. Laser beams flashed, barely missing them and striking other parts of the station, causing explosions. They rounded a corner and came upon a large open door with a lit-up green check mark on a sign next to it.

"Here we go!" Shakara said tensely. "My father had me experience this several times in a simulator, but he said that it could never duplicate the sensations we're about to feel in real life." Shakara said.

Tanis felt a lump form in his throat as the door slid shut behind them with a loud clang. The words "BR Entry Protocols Initiated" flashed across the gunship's screen. The bottom of the spherical room opened up below their little gunship, revealing a massive black energy storm below them. Large metal coils covering the walls suddenly glowed to life with crackling blue energy. The coils projected this energy together into a glowing blue protective sphere around the gunship. Tanis felt himself become weightless and began to drift out of his seat before the straps came taut and held him.

"Dimensional Multiplicity Shield and Mass/Density Accretion Shield in place" flashed across the screen next.

"Ashley, if you haven't buckled up yet, you really might want to do so now." Shakara urged. Ashley didn't verbally respond, but Tanis heard a pronounced click from the cabin.

"Geez that girl's a maverick!" Shakara commented.

"Understatement of the century." Tanis said, grinning.

The deafening hum of a massive energy buildup filled the gunship as the coils projected a further layer of glowing energy around them, this one colored white.

"Inertial Dampeners in place. Preparing to fire Injection Discharge." Blinked red across the screen.

"Hang on!" Shakara shouted extremely loudly.

With a burbling blast of light, the gunship was ejected into the storm of energy below. Tanis was slammed violently back into his seat, and for a moment was overcome with the most indescribable feeling of multiplicity. He felt like a new version of himself were being created every millisecond, and that they were all trailing behind him in a blurred, infinite line. Another electric jolt pulled him together to cancel the effect, but Shakara's words of warning echoed eerily. Tanis also felt the most powerful acceleration he would ever experience in his life, it made the gunship's normal engines feel like casually strolling around a park. His vision blurred and red began seeping into his peripheral sight range. He tasted copper in his mouth and pain streaked up and down his tail and back as his body slowly crushed his tail under the pressure of the acceleration. The inside of the gunship went dark and red flashes in the Black River's innards lit up the view screen. Tanis squinted to try and clear his vision, but all he could see was darkness and flashes of red.

Then, a deep hum louder than the engines or the sound of the Black River pulsed through the cockpit once and Tanis fell forward in his seat as the force from the acceleration fell away. He gasped for breath and pulled his tail out from behind him, not realizing that he hadn't been able to breathe due to the amount of force that had acted on his body. His vision slowly cleared and the bruises covering his tail throbbed.

"Inertial dampeners have just a tad bit of a delay to them eh?" Tanis snapped.

"How cool was that?" Ashley screeched giddily.

"Let me guess…you're a thrill seeker at heart, aren't you Ashley?" Tanis rasped.

"I've gone on every roller coaster in both Kanto and Johto, and they were never good enough for me. This however, has made my life totally complete!" Ashley exclaimed, and then sighed in satisfaction.

Tanis grabbed his station's controls and spun the view around. The Black River's dark energy swirled all around them, and it seemed to call out to him hypnotically. He was almost mesmerized by it when the view turned to see a cluster of gunships trailing behind them not too far behind. Their laser turrets glowed a deadly red.

"Your life's about to become even more complete Ashley." Tanis remarked as he gripped the triggers with his sweaty paws.

"They wouldn't dare fire on us inside the river!" Shakara explained.

The gunship rattled again as the shields absorbed several laser bolts. The green indicator bar along the top of their screen dropped staggeringly.

"Never say never." Tanis quipped, and repressed his urge to return fire.

"I can't believe this! Are they insane! This is a breach of basic dimensional protocol! My father would be furious!" Shakara ranted.

"Believe it." Tanis said grimly, watching as a bolt flashed past them.

The red beam flickered for a moment as it traveled through the tunnel far ahead of them. It didn't collide with the River's outer walls thankfully, so a catastrophic collapse didn't occur. But three more bolts swept across their gunship's shields and the shield indicator fell quickly into the red. Alarms began beeping all over the control panel.

"We need to take evasive action now, or we're going to be blown to bits!" Tanis said angrily.

"But if we don't hold our course, we might fly into the energy vortex around us, which would mean not only death for us, but a possible dimensional collapse!" Shakara said desperately.

The shield indicator fell to empty and one of the laser beams caught them on the side of the ship. The frame of the clunky gunship swung and shook violently, causing Tanis to be thrown about in the straps of his seat. He looked at the glowing holographic schematics of the gunship and let out a sigh of relief when he saw none of their vital systems had been hit. But a good three inches of armor plating had been melted away.

"The next hit will melt clear through us! Now move!" Tanis shouted.

Shakara reluctantly spun the controls and they did a complete barrel roll inside the energy vortex without touching the walls. As they completed the maneuver however, the other gunships trailing behind them continued to fire, and three of the beams that missed Tanis' ship flew past them and collided with the tunnel wall ahead of them. The red laser beams caused a great, sickening bulge to form in the black energy of the River's Wall, which grew to monstrous proportions before exploding in a cascading cloud of light. The light blinded Tanis and he scrunched his eyes closed to try and block it out. He was tossed painfully in the straps of his seat and he felt the buckles bite into his flesh and cause massive bruising. He was sure he felt bones in his neck crack and muscles get pulled out of place and ripped as the gunship careened and thrashed him around like the inside of a rock tumbler. Several loud explosions deafened him and he said his own final rites just before he believed death would grasp him with its horrible scythe.

But death didn't come, the thrashing slowed and stopped, the sound and light faded, and they suddenly floated gently as if nothing had happened. Tanis opened his eyes to see that instead of a river of black energy, a tunnel of multicolored light filled the gunship's view screen. It was unimaginably beautiful; it filled and transcended every spectrum of wondrous color, as if a wizard had cast a spell on a set of paints. It danced and flowed across the view screen merrily, as if welcoming him and his friends. He found it hypnotic, but had to look away to see the status of their ship. Obviously the fact that he was breathing air was a good sign.

"Well I'll be damned." Shakara whispered.

"No comment!" Ashley quipped from the troop cabin, and Tanis grinned.

Tanis remembered this sight from when his father was showing him his memories back in the tube. This was the original dimensional tunnel that Mewtwo had discovered, not the dark-spirited River that Ares had created. This was a thing of beauty before his eyes, and he was shocked and joyous that they had found it.

"We must have been pushed through the boundaries of dimensional reality to end up here." Shakara said, with the first dumbfounded look Tanis had ever seen on her face. "When the lasers hit the energy holding the Black River in place, it must have created a temporary hole in the walls between dimensions, allowing our ship to escape and find its way here. This…this is astounding!"

Tanis saw that the ship was still in the same state it had been in before their little dimensional jaunt, and wiped some sweat off of his brow. Then he noticed the beeping red lights on the panel, indicating a rear proximity alert. He grabbed the gun controls and swiveled his view around to see that their pursuers were right behind them.

"Looks like our friends came with us! Drive!" Tanis said woefully.

"They're charging their weapons again!" Shakara said, looking at Tanis' screen.

"What now? Where to? What do we do?" Tanis asked.

Shakara looked down at the control panel and her face was painted with terror. "The nav system is shorted out! Without it we won't be able to find our way back home! We could be stranded out here for eternity!"

Tanis' mind raced a moment, he looked over at Shakara's control panels and saw it displaying the words "Memory Erased, Please Input New Coordinates" blinking on it. A brainstorm hit him and he grabbed Shakara's shoulder.

"Listen, I've got an idea. But for it to work, we need to make it out alive, and to keep those other gunships from collapsing this dimensional tunnel with their lasers as well. To do that, I need you to fly through the nearest exit into one of the other dimensions, where we can get our bearings and possibly escape pursuit!" He said calmly.

Shakara nodded and steered their ship hard to the side. Their gunship dove towards one of the holes in the tunnel wall, where they saw the image of a shining space station out in the dark depths of the cosmos. As they exited the dimensional tunnel, the pursuing gunships turned to follow them and they were all ejected back into normal space with one unceremonious dimensional cough. Tanis looked in awe at the massive structure hanging in the blackness ahead of them; it must have been the size of the Earth's moon. The harsh light of a nearby stay glinted painfully off of its reflective surface, and round, glinting silver ships flew to and from its massive form.

"Let's go, perhaps we can get help!" Tanis said, and Shakara flew them onward.

The pursuing gunships twirled around and came after them, gaining slowly but surely. Tanis took the moment to put his plan into action. He gripped his electronic controls tightly and began reaching into the machine with his mind. He accessed the gunship's wireless hub and then broadcasted his thoughts electronically to the pursuing gunships. He knew he could access them without drawing attention this way. By proxy he accessed files in the nav databases of the other gunships until he dug up the coordinates he needed. After memorizing the numbers needed to guide them back home, he began initiating self destruct protocols on the other gunships. But security overrides blocked his attempt and he had to withdraw. When he returned to reality, he reached over to the nav panel and typed in the co-ordinates.

"How'd you do that?" Shakara asked, visibly amazed.

"Same way I made those songs. Now if you'll kindly drive us to safety and a dimensional portal then we can start making our way home!" Tanis said.

As they sped towards the alien station, a strange, garbled language suddenly came over the receiver.

"We don't have time to run translation algorithms." Shakara said, reaching for the mute button.

"Besides, I can always get our message across the good old fashioned way!" Tanis said. He then leaned over the microphone on the left side of the panel and screamed into it as loud as he could, trying to send terrified.

Shakara looked frustrated at first, but then that emotion vanished from her face. "Gets the point across." She said calmly.

Shakara steered them in close to the station's hull just as before, and the other gunships caught up guns blazing. What little power that had recharged into the shields on Tanis' gunship was quickly dispersed by glancing blows. Other bolts struck the station's hull and erupted into brilliant red and orange flames. Shakara steered them nimbly in between the explosions, swerving through them and dodging more laser beams. Above, ships docked to the station came loose and flew down to pursue them. Orange gouts of fire filled the space above them and the clang of heavy slugs colliding with the hull filled the cockpit.

"Looks like they're going to shoot at all of us indiscriminately." Tanis said, frowning.

Shakara jammed the engines to maximum again, and their pursuers did the same, the alien ships were left behind, still accelerating and firing their comparatively weak projectile weapons. They turned and sped downwards and came upon a group of undocked ships in an orderly line. Shakara turned them to fly parallel to this line and followed it around the station's curving bulk. When they turned around a blind corner, a glowing circle of energy appeared in their vision. The line of ships was steadily flying into this circle of swirling light, and Tanis recognized it easily as another dimensional portal. He thought that this must be some sort of alien dimensional highway or trade route. They were flying towards it too fast for Shakara to brake or avoid, so they simply passed back out of real space and into the colorful tunnel. The line of ships branched in many places but still continued on into the distance as far as the eye could see.

"I can't activate the autonav system with all these other ships in here! We would crash into them!" Shakara said, now very frustrated.

Another beam of red flew past them, and an explosion shook them as they flew.

"Not to mention we'll take our company with us! We need to lose them!" Tanis said, and swiveled the viewer around. "Looks like law enforcement has taken two of them out at once. I think there are only four left!"

"What's that up ahead?" Ashley asked, poking her head through the door.

Tanis decided not to comment on the fact that Ashley had unbuckled herself and squinted ahead. He could see that the tunnel light was intensifying in the distance, and the line of commuter ships were flying into this light.

"I don't know!" He said, gripping his seat as another explosion shook them. He swiveled back around to see that the alien law enforcers had been destroyed all except for one ship, and that there were only two enemy gunships left. Apparently the dogfighting was getting intense.

Shakara shouted a profanity in surprise as bright white light suddenly washed out her part of the screen. It filled Tanis's screen soon too and he covered his eyes to keep from being blinded. When the light cleared away, what showed through was truly a sight to behold. The dimensional tunnel had opened up into a massive open space that was filled with pulsating energy. At the center of this space was a massive glowing spire of energy, a towering nexus of essences that stretched for miles above, below, and wide. Energy from millions of other tunnels converged at it, and around it flew millions of ships of every shape, size and color. This was the most striking answer to the question of being alone in the universe that any being could comprehend. Here was a convergence between thousands of worlds and their peoples, a cosmic center where everyone and everything converged on their paths throughout the multiverse. Suddenly Tanis felt supremely insignificant, and he wondered if it would make any difference to this vast realm if he lived or died at all.

A jarring explosion rattled the gunship and Tanis returned to self-preservation mode. He didn't realize that they had not stopped moving, since it seemed that everything around them was standing still. It was quite an optical illusion caused by the sheer scale and vastness of the dimensional nexus. He turned his viewscreen around to look at the last two gunships that were chasing them.

A huge, bulky green ship rose up behind the two pursuing gunships and turned to face them. Tanis felt his blood pressure reach new heights when he saw racks upon racks of gunship-sized missiles mounted on the green battleship, and he wondered if the owners of this monstrosity would be just as indiscriminate in their choice of targets. Only two of the missiles cut loose, and they quickly caught up with the pursuing gunships and wiped them out in brilliant showers of green sparks and flame. At that same moment Shakara steered them clear of the lines of commuting ships and into the clear. She punched the activation button on the autonav system, which rocketed them towards another tunnel entrance in the outer walls of the space around the nexus. They dove through and into the empty tunnel beyond, pushing the gunship's engines to the maximum again. After ten minutes of navigating their way through the swirling lights, the autonav turned them through an exit and into real space again. They came out into orbit around a blue planet, and the dimensional door quickly slammed closed behind them. Tanis swiveled his view around to see the Black River above them.

"This is it!" Shakara said happily after a short pause. "We're in orbit directly over my father's HQ! We've arrived at our target destination!"

"See, what did I tell you about optimism?" Ashley said playfully. "You never know until you try!"

Tanis turned around and smiled at her. "So says the girl who risked getting a concussion just for a good view of the screen." He said, and ruffled her hair with his paw.

"Hey, and I had just gotten it untangled too!" She said in playful frustration.

When Tanis could practically hear Shakara's eyes rolling back, he turned to her and spoke. "Well, now's your chance! Get in contact with your father and tell him you're on your way!"

"Done and done, he's already begging for forgiveness for almost killing me. Let's go."

**Chapter XXII – A15**

Ashley sat back in her seat in the gunship's troop cabin, mentally preparing herself for the ordeal that they were about to endure. A part of her knew that things probably weren't going to go well, and she realized that she needed to come to terms with the possibility that they were flying down to their deaths. She had forgotten that they hadn't yet made it though this planet's atmosphere yet, and found herself rudely interrupted by all the turbulence that such a trip entails. The quaking tossed her out of her seat since she had not bothered to re-buckle herself, and she got even more bruises on top of all her other ones. She swore under her breath when a large box came loose from the ceiling and hit her squarely on the head.

"You'll never learn, will you?" Shakara shouted back at her.

"It's just a little rattling!" Ashley shouted back.

The roaring sound of the flames against the hull quieted and the violent shaking finally ceased. Ashley climbed up off of the floor and peeked into the cockpit. The screen showed that they were still at an extreme altitude, but descending rapidly. A green continent splattered with orange deserts and grey mountains rushed up at them and filled the screen. They essentially plummeted out of the sky like this for several minutes before passing through a layer of clouds. Shakara gently slowed their descent as the details of the land below them came into focus. Ashley stared down at the green beauty of the land as it opened up below them, at least how it showed up on the screen. A stone castle and a steel fortress stood in the north, presiding over a vast green grassland covered with a patchwork of farms. The sun was just setting here, and the fading light glinted radiantly off of the steel faces of the fortress in the north.

"That's my father's HQ, he's going to open the main dome to let us in." Shakara said, pointing at the fortress.

They descended slowly towards the massive structure, and its top painfully slid open. Ashley caught a glimpse of a huge mountain to the northeast, covered in a huge city and wreathed in smog.

"Quick, start masking you and Ashley's energy signature now Tanis! You might be too late already!" Shakara said urgently.

Tanis unbuckled his seat belt and slid into the troop cabin with Ashley. He pressed himself against the wall and Ashley climbed up and did the same.

"Be very quiet now!" Tanis whispered, pressing himself into the shadows as best he could.

There was a muffled clang as the gunship touched down, and after a low moment the low hum from the engines faded away, followed by a loud hiss from the cooling system. Ashley heard the gunship's outer door swish open and swift footsteps entered the cockpit. Her heart tightened with nervousness and she had to hold her breath in order not to breathe loudly. The prospect of facing Ares again was a lot more frightening than being destroyed by a dimensional singularity for her at this point. She found Tanis' paw in the dark and gripped it tightly.

"Shakara!" Ares' voice called loudly, and there was a moment when Ashley's heart began pumping again, this time at triple capacity.

"Can you ever forgive me for abandoning you like that? For my Acolytes trying to kill you?"

"Yes dad. You know how much you mean to me, even if I don't say it." Shakara's voice said. It occurred to Ashley that she was sounding too sincere.

"Don't worry about me right now anyway, I've brought you something I'm sure will please you!"

Ashley felt her heart stop again when Shakara lead Ares directly into the troop cabin where she and Tanis were hiding. She fell to her knees and stared into Ares' ruthless eyes.

"You traitor!" Tanis bellowed, and began charging an orange sphere of energy.

Shakara's tail blades flashed through the still air and red blood splashed out of a wide gash on Tanis' arm. The energy orb he had been charging faded away and he grasped his arm and gasped in pain.

Ashley found her strength again and leapt through the air, targeting Shakara's necks with her foot. A bubble of red energy encased and stopped her before her kick could connect, and a paralyzing wave of energy washed over her body excruciatingly. Ares stepped forward, grinning maliciously.

"Well, if it isn't my old, old friends! My, neither of you have aged a day, and I thought you were both long dead!" Ares said, his gloating tone unbelievably thick.

"I see you're still spouting your usual clichés too." Ashley spat, trying to contain her fright.

"I remember your sharp tongue well Ashley. Tell me, what happened to you and Tanis over the years? Directing the human rebels perhaps?" Ares asked.

"Father, can you question them some other time? Right now I want to spend some time with you." Shakara insisted.

A glimmer of annoyance touched Ares' eyes, but it faded quickly and he smiled again. He gestured towards Tanis and Ashley, carrying them out of the gunship and placing them under the control of a squad of Acolytes.

"Take them to the special imprisonment chamber." Ares said with that same evil grin.

"I'll kill you for this!" Ashley screamed as the Acolytes carried her and Tanis off, Shakara simply swished her tail through the air as she walked with Ares.

It took a group of at least three Acolytes to hold Tanis in check, and one to hold Ashley. They passed through lonely hallways and through a double door into a circular room filled with energy bubbles serving as cages. In the center of the room were four flat steel tables with thick plastic straps, one of which was occupied by a young woman with red, pony-tailed hair. An Acolyte was standing over her, holding a large blood covered knife. He turned to face them and grinned.

"Why I remember you! You're that girl who I captured for Lord Ares at the beginning of the conquest!" The Acolyte said, a glint of greed in his eyes.

"Agryn." Ashley spat.

"Good! You finally pronounced my name correctly!" Agryn said, grinning. He paused for a moment, and then turned to face the woman occupying the table. "New plans from the boss. You get a reprieve." He said to the woman.

The straps holding the redhead loosed of their own accord, and Agryn raised her up off of it with his power. He then gestured his paw and a door to one of the bubble prisons opened. The redhead then careened helter-skelter into the energy prison, striking the ground with bone-breaking force and tumbling limply.

"Jenna! Are you okay?" One of the call mates wailed.

"Silence! No talking!" Agryn growled, and everyone in that cage cried out in pain as their floor electrified. The blood from the redhead's wound began to sizzle.

Agryn turned back to Tanis and Ashley. "Tanis, Ashley, you are both to submit to the collars. Tanis, you're getting yours first. Come." Agryn said, and then lifted Tanis's paralyzed form onto the table so that Tanis was lying on his stomach.

"I'll never submit!" Tanis shouted.

Another Acolyte came forth, bearing the shell-like steel appendage that they were about to attach to Tanis. Surgical tools from a rack on the opposite wall floated into Agryn's hand as he telekinetically willed them to do so. The plastic straps tightened around Tanis and Ashley could only stand paralyzed and watch.

"Let him go goddamn it!" Ashley yelled, futilely trying to fight the paralysis.

All the Acolytes in the room smirked as Ashley twitched to no avail, and Agryn made an incision on Tanis' back at the base of his spine, just above his tail. A spasm of pain rocked his body and he grunted as the paralysis gripped his windpipes and kept him from screaming. Blood ran down his sides in a miniature river, but all he could feel was the knife agonizingly cutting through his flesh. He would have went into full on seizures from the pain as Agryn opened the incision with a spreader, but all his muscles were locked tight, and even his tail was strapped down. The Acolytes that held his power in check laughed.

"This device is a classic," Agryn said as he exposed Tanis' lower vertebrae, "Lord Ares said he took the design from the records of Darkest's Wars in the Time Medallion. Simple and yet highly effective, this time with a quintupled energy drain capacity. You're not going to break free from it as easily as your father did!"

Tanis couldn't even hear Agryn's words at this point, since he was beginning to pass out from shock. Agryn wouldn't let him fall unconscious however, he intruded on Tanis' mind and pried him awake. At the same time, he pulled out a large bone drill and began drilling a hole in the lowest vertebra until the spinal cord was exposed. He then attached the integration plug to the bone and used the nervous system integrator to fuse the electronics of the plug to Tanis' spinal cord. He added a few titanium screws for good measure, making sure it would never come loose. When finished, he removed the spreaders and used his own recover ability to close the incision around the plug and further aid in integration. To finish the procedure off, he clamped the steel shell over Tanis's head and torso, then clicked its input plug into the implant in Tanis' back, and the whole mechanism beeped three times to signal activation.

"You're done Tanis! Now, tell me, how does it feel to be robbed of your status as one of our race?" Agryn cackled.

Tanis fell off of the table onto his knees, panting as his body throbbed in pain. "I…never was a part…of your race." He gasped. "You…Ares, and all those who followed him…you gave up your rights to live as a member of my father's race…the moment you began conquering and killing. You disgrace his name as an individual…and you disgrace the name…of the Mewtwo race."

"How nice, I just finished carving you up, and you still have the strength and gall to preach to me. Let me make one thing clear to you before I put you in one of those bubbles. The survival of a species is dependant on the survival of the strongest. We are the strongest species this planet or any other planet will ever see, and if you are willing to give up your own glorious destiny of power, then we will be glad to take it and leave you behind. If you think that our species name is only honored by the love of peace, then indeed, you can no longer call us members of the 'Mewtwo' race. Call us what you will, but Time and glory march on Tanis, and if you won't follow them with us, you'll be left behind."

"Time…glory, what do you or your lord know of either of these things? Your definitions of them are pitiful." Tanis said as he began to regain strength.

"Enough, I tire of your preaching. It's time your friend had a turn on the table!" Agryn said, and lifted Ashley's now terrified form up onto the table.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Tanis yelled, his collar humming to life as it blocked his abilities.

"What are you going to do, kick me? Why, my dear friend, you're no more powerful than her or any other filthy human now! It would only take just one of my brothers to paralyze you, and with almost no psychic energy spent in the process!" Agryn said.

Tanis looked to see that all of the other Acolytes had stepped back, having no more need to contribute energy to hold him still. They all looked even more amused then before.

Ashley's heart pounded and her blood raced in terror as she was lifted through the air and onto the table. The straps tightened around her limbs and body, and Agryn stared down into her eyes.

"Don't worry kid, you have the brightest future of all the prisoners in this room. No physical torture for you, and as soon as you get your collar you'll get to life a glorious and rich life serving Ares!" Agryn said.

"No! I'd rather be tortured and die!" Ashley screamed, having found use of her vocal cords suddenly.

"It's not like you have any choice in this matter!" Agryn said, and lowered a small circular ring of steel over her head.

With a click and a beep the mind control device activated, and Ashley felt its presence barge into her mind. She was nearly overwhelmed with a sudden and intense love and loyalty to Ares. She now greatly looked forward to doing his bidding and earning his praise. The shadow of a large machine fell over her head and a great pressure smashed into her forehead in a sudden and intense blast of pain. But the pain didn't last long, and only a small trickle of blood ran down Ashley's cheek like a little tear. The machine receded as quickly as it had come, and the straps loosened allowing Ashley to sit up. She reached up and felt Ares' symbol, which had been stamped into her skull.

"Who do you serve?" Agryn asked

"Ares of course you dumb git!" Ashley snapped.

Tanis suddenly cried out in a hollow anguish, falling to his knees in despair as the paralysis lifted.

"No! Ashley! Don't fall to them! Please! If you can hear me, fight it!" Tanis sobbed.

The sight of a friend crying in anguish suddenly brought forth a flaming anger in Ashley's changed mind, and her original self suddenly raged forth inside the collar's influence. Her right hand suddenly reached upward, slowly a shakily, and grabbed the collar around her neck.

"Ares…" she said, gnashing her teeth and sweating profusely, "You've…picked…the wrong girl to mess with!"

Sparks burst out of Ashley's collar and she leapt up into the air. She connected a tornado kick with Agryn's skull and knocked him totally out cold. She pulled out her pocket knife and brought it down on Agryn's second neck, severing it in one stroke. She yanked it back and was about to sever his other neck when the other Acolytes in the room paralyzed her again, causing her to drop the knife and fall over. One of the Acolytes walked over and restored Agryn's second neck and revived him, and he grinned wryly as he climbed to his feet.

"What a strong person you are, both of mind and body! You defied the collar and nearly killed me! "Agryn said, almost in admiration. "Only one other person has ever attained that feat, and she is in the left side of that cell over there with her sister."

Agryn pointed to a different energy prison that harbored a tanned woman in tribal clothes with orange hair.

"Kalana!" Tanis suddenly shouted, and tried to get up to run over to her. "You were my father's best friend! He told me about you! Are you alright?"

"The first time we placed a collar on her the same thing happened, and we had to turn the new one up to triple capacity before we could reliably control her." Agryn said.

Another collar was brought in, and Agryn tinkered with it for a few second before raising it over Ashley's head.

"Now be a good girl and accept it!" Agryn said, and pulled the steel ring over Ashley's head.

This time Ashley's mind didn't even get a chance to fight back, her consciousness was simply shoved to the wayside like a piece of scrap the moment the collar was activated, and she tumbled into darkness.

A/N: Stunning development huh? Well before you get all jived about the story ending like this, remember that I promised more than one twist before the end! The next chunk will be the last, so this will be the last cliffhanger in Legacies that you'll hafta endure. Until then, I'm off to write the finale!


	22. Part II: Resurrection Chunk 9 & Epilogue

**Legacies**  
A Sequel to Crossing of the Paths  
By MMM/AJ

A/N: Oh. My. God. I hope that you folks have quite a lot of coffee and free time readily available, because this final chunk is a record-annihilating **64** pages long! That includes the last few regular chapters, the 3 conclusion chapters, and the extended edition of the epilogue, all of which are hefty in of themselves. So now I proudly give to you, the final installment of Legacies!

**_Part II - Resurrection_**

**Chapter XXIII – S5**

Ares yawned tiredly and sat back in the soft padded couch next to Shakara.

"It was quite ingenious of you, dressing an Acolyte up like you and sending him to his death in the Dantunian War like that father, I'm impressed." Shakara said.

Ares grinned. "It was a good opportunity to get rid of that whelp Anmor too, and the fake Triforce was just as easily concocted."

Ares yawned tiredly and laid back further into the soft padded couch after he spoke. "It's getting awfully late now, do you suppose we could talk some more tomorrow morning?" He asked.

"Sounds like a good idea dad, I'm tired after the day I've had." Shakara replied, standing and stretching.

Ares stood and nuzzled her gently. "I'm sorry about everything that's happened to you. I just don't understand why you won't let me link minds with you."

"Listen Dad, it's not like I don't love you, I just believe that it's important to have a precedent of privacy between us. It's a matter of mutual respect." Shakara said.

Ares sighed in resignation and walked to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said, and smiled again.

"Sleep well." Shakara said as he closed the door.

Shakara laid down on the couch and waited an hour in the main hall, pretending to be asleep. A room hadn't been built here for her yet, and she wasn't actually tired, nor did she plan on sleeping. No acolytes entered the room upon her orders, and she waited until she was sure her father was asleep. She then crept out of the great hall and into the corridors of her base, though there was no point since she didn't need to go unseen. She ran headfirst into an Acolyte on patrol and decided to ask him for directions.

"You there! Direct me to the Network Control Hub!" Shakara ordered harshly.

The Acolyte saw Ares' symbol on her forehead and bowed politely. "It is on the second floor, four chambers on the left from Lift B Milady." He said.

Shakara left the Acolyte behind without so much as a 'thank you', not realizing that she was about to pass through the room where Tanis and Ashley were being held. When she entered, the Acolytes guarding all the imprisonment bubbles bowed to her. She was extremely shocked to see Ashley among the bowing guards. Ashley was standing in front of Tanis' cell, holding a laser rifle and bearing a control collar on her neck.

"So, my father selected you for service eh?" Shakara asked, walking up to Ashley.

"Yes milady." Ashley replied obediently.

"Would you come with me please?" Shakara said, phrasing it more like an order than a question.

"This is a Class A prisoner milady, he cannot be left without a guard by regulations."

Shakara glanced at Tanis, who was wearing one of those awful inhibitor collars on his back. He was weeping softly in the back of his cell, his face hidden in his paws.

"The prisoner is psychically disabled, and there are at least ten other Acolytes in the room. His chances of escape are infinitesimal. I can make this judgment and this order, and I want you to come with me!" Shakara said harshly, taking the moment to enjoy being able to boss Ashley around for once.

"Yes milady." Ashley said, still without emotion, and they turned and walked toward the door.

When they reached the door, Shakara took a moment to look back at Tanis, who was now looking up at her. She winked at him, and his bleary, tear-washed demeanor brightened dramatically. She silently mouthed to him to keep acting sorrowful, and he grinned widely for a moment before returning to his weeping.

Ashley and Shakara made their way through the darkened halls, up the lift, and down to a door covered with authorization warnings splashed all over it. A small red beam of light projected from above the door and scanned the symbols on Ashley and Shakara's foreheads, and then the door beeped and swished open. The room inside was filled with the massive bulk of the Nexus machine and all its associated equipment. The device itself was composed of a huge, dark steel orb with spines on the bottom on top that it sat on. It was basically the same shape as the symbol on Shakara's forehead. Hundreds of cables of various widths were connected to its sides, and they cobwebbed outward to connect with the walls and other nearby computer banks. The space above it was occupied by a massive network of heat exchangers and coolant pipes. Two Acolytes, who were covered heavily with glistening implants, were standing guard, and bowed as they entered.

"Ashley, I need-" Shakara began.

"My new designation is Agent A, milady." The mindless human girl interrupted.

"Well Agent A, you will do well to remember not to interrupt me again. Now my father has requested that I be trained with all his technology, including the devices contained in this room. So I want you to show me the procedure for an emergency shutdown of the entire electropsionic matrix." Shakara said.

"Of course milady." Agent A said, and walked over to the main terminal.

"In order to activate the main shutdown switch, you must first input the thirty digit authorization code into the console. Once authorized, there are three different options available. If the emergency is an overheat or a fire in the core, you must first pump the cable ejection primer here and then hit the disconnect button. The central computer core will detach from the rest of the system and the entire chamber will flood with flame retardant and coolants. If the emergency is digitally contained within the network itself, such as a fatal cascade overload, simply pull the deactivation switch and the system will directly shutdown. If the emergency is an external environmental issue, such as volcanic activity or an earthquake, first you must pump the primer and disengage the computer as before, and then use the backup system to enter code 307A. This code will encase the core in a heatproof, impact-proof alloy container and move it into a designated shelter via emergency tubes run by the backup system."

"My father sure trains his new agents quickly!" Shakara exclaimed.

"Simple psychic data transfer milady. Everything I needed to know he told me in a few seconds across a mental link."

"How do I disable the emergency backup system?" Shakara asked.

"The secondary electropsionic core is only active during an emergency situation. Should there be a need to deactivate it, then you must proceed to the secondary terminal to your left and follow the same procedure. Note that option C, involving environmental emergencies, is not available for the secondary core. Should any of the recognized environmental emergencies occur, that core will be inevitably lost."

Shakara really didn't pay too much attention to Agent A's words, instead she was intruding on her mind to get the Authorization codes for shutdown. She succeeded, and then began entering them into the console.

"I am just testing confirmation." Shakara said when she saw Agent A giving her a funny look.

"There are no scheduled tests for this system for another ten years milady!" Agent A said loudly.

When the words 'Code Confirmed' flashed on the console's screen, Shakara slammed her paws on the deactivation switch as hard as she could. Agent A and both Acolytes in the room instantly collapsed onto the floor unconscious, and Shakara swiftly reached down to grab the laser rifle that Agent A had been carrying. She fired a continuous beam from it into the cables connecting the core with the rest of the computer network, slicing and melting right through them. She wanted to make sure that nobody reactivated it anytime soon. For good measure, she pumped the primer and ejected what was left of the molten cables from the core's input sockets. The fried stumps popped out like corks from a wine bottle and jets of hot gas violently erupted out of the core itself. She followed the same procedure on the emergency backup core, shutting it down and melting its cables as well. Then Shakara reared back and kicked the screen of the nearest computer console, caving it in completely, and then followed that up by slicing its cables as well with her tail blade. It would be a very long time before any of the Acolytes got up again, and now Ares wouldn't be able to escape into one of their bodies.

Shakara heard a groan and turned to see the human girl sitting up, although she wasn't sure if it were Ashley or Agent A who had gotten up.

"Agent A?" Shakara asked.

"What the hell are you talking about Shakara?" Ashley snapped, wobbling to her feet.

Shakara sighed in relief and walked over to Ashley. "Hold still and let me cut that collar off of you."

Ashley suddenly turned and swung a right hook at Shakara's skull, and Shakara blocked it with her right arm.

"I'll have your head on a spear you traitor!" Ashley ranted, taking another swing.

Shakara firmly grabbed both of Ashley's arms and spoke, "Listen! That was all an act! I'm sorry for putting you through all that, but my father had already detected your presence on the gunship and I needed a convincing explanation!"

Ashley looked dumbstruck for a moment as her shocked mind processed this new information. Soon afterwards, a flood of the purest and most indescribable relief poured out of her expression and blood rushed to her cheeks with happiness. What Ashley did next shocked Shakara, but not in a negative way, the shorter human girl embraced her for a short yet meaningful moment.

"You don't know how relieved I am!" Ashley said, nearly crying from joy.

"Alright, I'm glad for you, but you need to listen. We don't have time to dawdle. I have just shut down the Electropsionic core as per our plans, and now we need to rendezvous with Tanis and get his collar off of him as well. If we hurry, we might have a chance to regroup and prepare ourselves before my father senses what has happened and awakens. Now come on, we need to move fast!"

The two of them sprinted back through the halls together, jumping over the scattered bodies of the unconscious Acolytes. No alarms were going off since the whole system had been reset, and all the doors had opened to their default positions. Reaching the imprisonment chamber, Shakara saw that all the energy bubbles that had held prisoners had faded away, and all of them had been freed. Tanis stood among a motley gang of scarred, abused people that had all equally felt the wrath of Ares' torture artists. They were milling amongst themselves when she first stumbled in, and many of them were breaking into the storage lockers next to their cells to retrieve their weapons and belongings. One of them, a dark-skinned woman, was cutting the collar off of Tanis with some sort of bladed weapon when one of the others caught sight of Shakara and panicked.

"Look, there's one of them!" A brown haired man shouted and pointed at Shakara.

"Get her!" another member of the mob shouted.

Tanis sprinted up in front of the angry prisoners before they could rush at Shakara. "Wait!" he shouted. "She's on our side, she's the one who shut down Ares' psychic network and set us free!"

The crowd looked ruthlessly skeptical, but none of them spoke a word out to protest directly. Shakara saw that she needed to put her own word in to prove what Tanis had said.

"Listen to me, I don't have time to explain everything with words, and I especially don't have the time to do so in a way that will expel all of your doubts and suspicions. So I am going to project everything that you need to know directly into your minds. Don't be alarmed when you hear my voice in your head, and don't worry about being mentally attacked."

Shakara was happy to find no direct resistance when she psychically linked up with everyone in the room. She quickly introduced herself, explained her past, and gave them a brief synopsis of her newly revised plan. She found that the whole assortment of those in the room consisted of people from here in this dimension where Hyrule existed, and a number of others from a land called Weyard in another, completely separate dimension. They all came from different parts of their respective worlds and spanned different social classes, and yet they now stood before her together in equality in the face of the threat of Ares. From here in Hyrule came two Gerudo siblings by the names of Kalana and Ruru, two Zora siblings by the names of Onta and Iona, and a Dantunian named Aquel. From Weyard came a group of warriors and a scholar, all of whom had been traveling together long before any of these events had come to pass. And to add to that was Tanis and Shakara herself from back home at Earth. Altogether, this was a substantial force to fight Ares with, even though most of them used primitive solid metal swords for weapons. Shakara could sense that they all had the skills to use energy-type attacks of some form of another, though they called these energies by different names. All of their energy could be pooled and used to fight against Ares. With this, Shakara could feel that their chances for victory were growing significantly, and all that was missing was a way to unify them all into an effective fighting force, and Shakara knew that she held that key.

**- - - CONVERGENCE - - -**

**Chapter XXIV**

Ares was sitting in his room dictating another one of his journal entries into his personal computer terminal. The red velvet splendors of his domain were veiled in the shadows of the night, and he kept the main light off to calm him as he softly spoke his words into the microphone. All of his empire was quiet this night, every single one of his goals had been accomplished now and peace dominated the lands under his control. Ares himself was unable to sleep for the while due to sheer excitement. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, he would re-unite all three pieces of the Triforce and finally put them into the Resurrector machine to proceed with his plans. Not only that, but his daughter had turned out not to be dead after all as well! He spent almost half an hour gleefully relaying all these events into his log before he began to feel sleepy. After finishing the retelling, he ended the recording session and laid back in his chair to recline and relax. His mind, which had been agonized for weeks now, was finally getting some rest.

Ever since that day when he believed Shakara had died, Ares' emotions had been thrown into turmoil. He was conflicted and ripped by different feelings to the point where many of his political advisors became worried about his sanity. On one day, he would be stricken with grief, unable to cope with any of the issues that laid at hand, and he would spend hours locked alone in his room lamenting for Shakara. On another day he would be gripped by a savage rage, unwilling to believe that he had let himself be caught by that despicable trap that humans called friendship. He would tell himself over and over again that Shakara wasn't actually worth anything anyway, since she had turned out so rebellious, and that he had let himself become emotionally weak. On a third given day he would be sick and tired of everything in the world, and nearly became suicidal. Every day was an appalling streak of depression for him, and even during his fits of rage he still felt a biting loneliness. And on all of his days, he was confounded by the fact that despite his power and wealth, he was still feeling a gaping hole in his life that could not be filled.

Now that Shakara had returned, and the final third of the Triforce had been captured, this hole had been instantly filled. As Ares laid back in his chair, thinking, he finally began to realize that, perhaps it was the companionship that made his life complete? The time he had spent connecting with Shakara that night had been one of the happiest nights he had known, and perhaps his greedier, colder self was wrong in the end? As he comprehended this, the warm comfort of his now-perfect life finally lulled him into a deep, restful sleep. He left his terminal on, and its cool white and red light bathed him as he dozed off in his chair. Life was good.

It took a long while, but something wrong in the atmosphere began to pry into Ares' restful state. It was a vague feeling of something amiss that crept into his dreams and haunted his relaxation. It disturbed him and caused him to slowly drift into wakefulness. He gradually opened his eyes, and his vision was blurred at first from the sleep in them. He saw something blinking urgently on the terminal's holo screen and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, and saw dire words flashing on the readout: "Fatal System Crash, Psionic Network Disabled, Main Computer Network Down"

Ares stood straight up like he had been lying on a hot plate. He tried to psychically contact any of his Acolytes to find out what was going on, but there was no response. His entire empire had suddenly been crippled in his sleep, and the first thing that crossed his mind was if Shakara was ok. Stress coursed through him as he was abruptly kicked into full alarm from his restful state, and he teleported straight into his HQ's main hall to find Shakara.

The main hall was nearly pitch black when Ares arrived, and the couch where Shakara had been sleeping was empty. He glanced around wildly as a sense of panic rose up in his throat. He felt a rush of relief when he finally saw her standing in front of the door to the labs, facing away from him.

"Shakara, are you alright?" Ares shouted to her.

"Yes father, I'm fine." Shakara replied impassively.

"What's going on! The system crashed, and I…" Ares lost his train of thought before he could finish.

An icy drop of water landed squarely on Ares' head, and he looked up to see the overhead dome had been opened up. The Hylian sky loomed above them, filled with angry boiling clouds that churned violently in the night's darkness. Not a single bolt of lightning flashed, giving an ominous feeling of suppressed fury.

"I want to ask you something father…what is your definition of glory?" Shakara asked coldly.

Ares was utterly silent as his mind roiled in confusion.

"Is it this?" Shakara boomed, and psychically projected the images of a gruesome pile of dead bodies into his mind.

Ares was caught completely off guard and unawares by Shakara's sudden onslaught. Mounds upon mounds of decaying bodies of Hylians, Iresians, humans, Acolytes, an unrecognizable others festered in a dump-like trench, and Ares could even smell the decay. He cringed like a frightened puppy and the images faded from his mind as Shakara relented.

"That is what your wars do, father. Endless, pointless waste that knows no bounds. I will have no part in it!" Shakara said, shouting the last part as she turned to face her father.

Ares faltered for a moment, and then his strength returned to him. "I don't need you judging my actions! You should obey me!" he boomed back at her.

Shakara's demeanor calmed again, it was almost as if her intensity was coming in waves. "Do you know what your first and biggest mistake was father?" she asked.

Ares was silent again, he fumed and tried to think of something to say.

"Thinking that everyone, including me, would bow down and obey you without question. Do you know what your second mistake was? Complacency. You never sat down and thought out every possible way your empire could be brought down, and you never took any of your enemies seriously. And worst of all, you thought that you could quell my spirit with simple words. I'm more than that father, and now all of these mistakes have come back to haunt you, embodied within me and my friends."

Ares tried to ask her what she meant by her friends, but she closed her eyes before he could say anything. He suddenly sensed an enormous amount of energy beginning to collect in and behind her, like a great tidal wave. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing in a multitude of shifting colors, and her posture and demeanor seemed to shift. She held herself differently, a lot more purposeful and dangerous looking. As the collecting energy continued to steadily rise, Ares decided it was the best idea to raise his shield and ready himself for an attack. The two Triforce pieces in his hand glowed brightly as he drew on their power, and his shield glowed gold and red. Since all his Acolytes were out cold and unable to send him his energy, he only had the Triforce left to support him now. His arrogance told him it should still be more than enough, but his entire belief system had now been shaken by Shakara's speech.

Shakara grinned and grabbed the door to the science room behind her to throw it open. Standing in the room behind her was a crowd of high security prisoners that Ares recognized from the special imprisonment chamber. Kalana, Ruru, Onta, Iona, Aquel, Isaac, Felix, Garet, Jenna, Sheba, Ivan, Mia, Piers, and Tanis all stood arrayed behind Shakara with their weapons at the ready, and all their eyes glowed in the same mysterious manner. They all began to move to surround him in unison, and he frowned in bitter acceptance of the fact that his daughter was in fact going to have to be a loss to him after all.

When Shakara's entire group evenly spread out around Ares, he reminded himself that almost none of them outside of Tanis and Shakara had any means of protecting themselves from a mental attack. He reached out with his mind in attempt to take control over several of them, but was met with a collective mental barrier that Shakara had put around all of their minds. Ares concentrated on just one person next, pushing more and more energy into the assault in an attempt to break their mental wall, but to no avail. He backed off then, realizing that this fight would be a lot more difficult than he thought. He suddenly grinned in spite of himself as his more destructive side gained control.

"You wanted to know what my definition of glory was Shakara? It's overcoming adversity to achieve victory!" Ares said. All present in the room smiled subtly in unison.

Dozens of cripplingly powerful blows struck Ares' shield at once, each of which would have normally been enough to disable him if he had not been in possession of the Triforce. Each member of Isaac's party unleashed a Djinn upon him, their combined force enough to turn an average Acolyte into a puddle of biomass. The power of the Triforce flowed into the shield and it held, but more attacks followed in rapid succession. A triple-blow from Kalana's scimitar was followed by tandem water spells from Iona and Onta. The powerful jets of highly pressurized water struck the shield and threw it against the wall as if Ares inside weighed nothing. He had barely come to a stop when Tanis and Shakara landed on top of his shield and began stabbing their energy swords into it. Their first series of blows was ineffective, so they answered with more and more, mixing in powerful blows from orbs of psychic energy. Isaac and Felix raced forward to unleash more Djinni.

Ares waved his arms and unleashed a colossal circular psywave that tossed all his attackers away like bowling pins. The psywave traveled past them as they were tossed away and went on to part the clouds in the darkened sky and travel off into space. Ares was denied his chance to continue on the offensive however, his shield was suddenly encased in a massive ice prison. The cold bit his skin as the concurrent spells from Onta, Iona, Mia, and Piers all formed a massive iceberg nearly two feet thick around him. The massive lattice of ice crystals then shattered with such an incredible physical force that it burst multiple gaping holes in his shield. Had it not taken the impact for him, he would have been shredded beyond recognition.

Ares' foes didn't hesitate in the flawless execution of their tandem attacks. Before the clouds of ice shards even had time to fall to the ground, a massive, dragon-shaped pillar of flames melted right through the ice, passed through a hole in Ares' shield, and struck his body, charring him black and baking his insides to well-done status. That attack was only barely dissipating when Tanis and Shakara's energy swords caught on the edges of the hole in the shield and pried it open further until the whole thing gave way and shattered.

Ares called on the power of the Triforce and fired a massive beam of golden energy at Tanis and Shakara. It struck their shields and flung them away like dolls, and then soared on past them to blast a series of molten holes through the rest of his base. He also took the chance to heal those of his internal organs which had been destroyed by the heat of the fire dragon in order to remove the immediate danger of his death. He turned towards where Tanis had landed, and then was interrupted by an icy cold lance of pain in his abdomen. He looked down to see a gore soaked sword protruding from his stomach, and he then wrapped his tail around the ankles of his assailant and threw him across the room violently. He re-raised his shield just in time to block another flurry of sword and scimitar blows and began healing himself again. He was interrupted when a series of flashes of light and deafening bangs filled the air, and his shield bent like a balloon being poked inwards. He saw through the flash that multiple bolts of lightning had struck it, and Ivan and Sheba's weapons were sizzling and smoking. More repeated lightning strikes followed, and Ares' energy consumption doubled as he tried to defend and heal himself both at the same time. The two Triforce pieces in his hand were beginning to sting and burn, and he decided to change his strategy quickly, since this one obviously wasn't working.

Ares teleported in a small golden flash and reappeared behind Kalana's back, holding onto an energy sword. He drew back and prepared to behead the Gerudo woman, but dual energy beams from Tanis and Shakara threw him across the room and bent his shield wildly again. He teleported a second time to reappear behind Tanis, but another combined Djinn blast from Isaac's crew sent him reeling before he could even rear back to strike. It was as if they were somehow tracking his teleportation co-ordinates to anticipate all his attacks, and he decided that yet another tactic change was in order. He quickly flew high up into the air above everyone's heads where no-one could reach him who couldn't psychically fly. He raised his arms and pulled every last ounce of energy out of the Triforce that he possibly could, forming it into one end-all, planet-destroying doomsday orb. The Triforce burned like someone had taken a branding iron to his hand, straight out of the bellows, but he ignored the pain and concentrated at finishing his monstrosity of an attack.

"Come forth Iris, I summon you!" Jenna's voice called brilliantly over the crackling hiss of the collecting energy above.

Ares swiveled his head around curiously, expecting some kind of attack, but the storms in the Hylian sky roiled on uninterrupted. He shrugged it off and returned to the task at hand.

"Behold, your doom has come!" Ares shouted, and then waved his arms downward to fire his attack down at his foes.

High above them all, a new light began to emerge from the wrathful clouds. The glow intensified and began to push through the clouds, and suddenly Ares craned his neck upward when he sensed something massive approaching. Beams of reddish light shot downward like lightning, they surrounded and encased Ares before anyone could blink. Similar energy collected around Ares' massive doomsday attack and stopped it in its tracks. The beams then began pulling upward, like giant glowing ropes of steel, and Ares felt confused and frightened.

"What kind of trick is this?" Ares psychically bellowed as he was pulled to higher and higher altitudes.

"Have a nice flight!" Tanis' psychic voice replied simply.

Passing through the upper limits of the storm clouds and into the calmer night sky above, Ares caught a glimpse of a rapidly ascending Goddess who was pulling on the beams of light which held him prisoner. She rapidly disappeared into the distance and he began violently accelerating up towards space. Feeling the air thinning, Ares formed an air bubble around himself and continued to resist. He was continually pulled like this until the planet fell away below him and he was surrounded by the dark abyss of space on all sides. He struggled fruitlessly for minutes on end, and with every passing moment he became more frantic to escape and much more enraged. His rage was cooled with icy cold terror when he realized where he was being taken, right towards this solar system's star.

Ares became blindly desperate, he fired energy attacks into the beams that imprisoned him, but to no avail. He attempted teleportation numerous times but the energy of the beam blocked him. His skin began to sizzle and burn as he rapidly approached the star, both from the heat and the concentrated light. He did manage to successfully raise a heat shield to protect himself, but it was soon overpowered. He turned this shield opaque to protect from the intense light and triple-reinforced it to try and insulate against the heat, but for every passing second the burning became more intense. He writhed and twitched in agony as his skin slowly char-broiled, and he began to lose his mental focus as the rest of his body was affected. He cried out in defiance, trying to form words to rebuke the grim reaper, but his muscles were being cooked and he could not control their movements any longer. In that moment, Ares was as close to hell as any still-living mortal could get.

With one monstrous crash, the heat shields collided with the star's outer gas layers, causing a spectacular display of blinding orange and yellow fireworks. At that very moment, death should have come to the tyrant inside, but the Triforce interrupted at the last moment. The cracking and failing shields were reinforced by its golden energy, and the imprisoning beams from Jenna's summon reversed direction and pulled Ares away from the star.

Ares regained consciousness minutes later as the Triforce's healing energies filled his body. He slowly realized that the star was fading in the distance, and that the only thing that had stood between him and death were the two golden triangles in his hand. As his mind returned to normal, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Fickle little artifact." He said half joyously. "You'll save my life, but you won't let me use your full powers against my foes. How altruistic."

The calming blues and greens of the Hylian planet returned to Ares' view as he was rapidly carried back. He didn't realize that he was still under the grip of Jenna's summon, so he didn't bother trying to slow down until he was about to enter the atmosphere. By the time he had reached the planet he was fully healed and mentally acute once more, so when he tried to slow down and failed, he realized that something was still terribly wrong. The planet's atmosphere blasted his shield violently and bright tongues of orange flames curled around it in an almost artful pattern. He passed through the upper atmosphere, storm clouds, and towards his HQ in a matter of seconds, his rate of speeding blurring out his vision. Normally, the computers in the buildings of his HQ would have registered him as a dangerous comet or asteroid and fired several volleys of plasma to destroy him, but since the network was down, none of those automated functions remained online. The plasma bolts could have struck his shield to slow him down, but instead he flew unimpeded right into the steel flooring of the base.

The rules of summoning prevented the ensuing blast from harming Jenna or anyone else in her party, but all of Ares' base was nearly obliterated from the impact. The impact-resistant alloys that Ares had designed himself withstood most of the collision, but all of the unshielded, sensitive equipment in the entire building was torn loose and tossed several miles away. The entire building sank under the force of the collision, and the soft earth sank and buckled like sand. The tremors that blasted through the earth all around caused houses in distant villages to collapse, and the towers of Hyrule Castle tilted and swayed.

Ares himself was saved from most of the impact by his shields, but the energy drain on the Triforce this caused made his entire hand explode in excruciating pain before going totally numb. Even with the cushioning his shields provided, Ares struck the floor with enough force to break multiple bones throughout his body, he felt his jaw splinter and his knees shatter, and again he took another close step towards the agony of hell before the Triforce saved him. When the dust cleared and the warped and mangled walls of his base came into his blurred vision, his opponents still stood there above him, stronger than ever. It was at this point that he realized that he was not going to win this fight. The Triforce may have saved his life multiple times, but it was not going to be enough to kill these enemies.

As the bones in his body quickly mended by the Triforce's command, Ares looked over at his right hand, only to see a ghastly, shriveled gray piece of flesh. The Triforce had turned his once vibrant and healthy hand into the picture of decay, it looked like his arm from the elbow down should have belonged to some kind of shambling undead beast. It was completely numb and limp as well, he could not get it to respond, and he knew that the Triforce had drained all the life force out of it. He stood, and in an instant his foes were right in front of him again.

Ares tried to strike first again, but by now he was incredibly weakened. When he lunged at Isaac with an energy sword, Isaac simply dodged to the side and landed a devastating right hook to the side of his head. Ares was sent tumbling through the air, his body spinning twice before grinding into the burning hot dirt that had settled after the impact. He kept pushing himself to fight, despite his rapidly waning energy, and flipped over onto his feet to attack Kalana. Kalana dipped under his attack and bashed his jaw with the hilt of her scimitar, breaking his jawbone a second time and sending him violently up into the air. Tanis appeared above him, and plunged both of his feet into Ares' stomach in a flawless double kick that sent him right back into the dirt again. His intestines were brutally bruised by the kick and he landed on top of his tail, sending an even brighter lightning bolt of pain up and down his back. The Triforce tried to heal him again, but now there was hardly any life left in him and it had little effect. His battered and ruined body now lay still on the wreckage of his once glorious base. The air suddenly stood silent for a moment.

Shakara walked up to her father, and added final insult to injury by plunging an energy sword into his second neck, sealing his defeat. She held this sword to his other neck, threatening to totally sever his head.

"Game's up father." She said softly.

Ares looked up at his daughter, her eyes were still glowing, and he could see in their emotion that all love had been lost. At that moment, all of Ares' other injuries; his severed second neck, multiple bruises, broken bones, dead arm, were nothing compared to the pain that Shakara's stare gave him. The cold, almost dead glint that she gave him cut his heart better than any energy blade could have, and his resolve quivered and faded away.

"Shakara...I'm...sorry." Ares stuttered, his psychic voice barely transmitting properly due to his drained power.

Shakara did not strike the final blow, but instead stopped to listen to him.

"For everything I've done wrong…even if I'm still not aware of all of it." Ares paused for a moment, and then spoke again. "Do you…remember the time when we played laser tag, you and I? That time that we spent together then, it meant more to me than any other time in my life. I didn't know it until now, but that was more important than any of the times I spent performing my conquests. And now that all time is about to fall out of my grasp…it saddens me that we won't ever play games like that together again."

Shakara closed her eyes for a moment, and her energy sword began to shiver and fade. A small droplet of water formed below each eyelid, and all was still for a moment.

"Don't hesitate!" Tanis called, and several of his party members rushed forward to finish the job.

Ares noticed something odd, the glow had vanished from the eyes of his attackers, and he rolled to the side to dodge Tanis's energy sword attack. This time, it seemed that Tanis was moving much slower. A new theory formed inside his head, and he decided to keep resisting just a little more to see if his theory was true. Ares jumped backwards and landed on top of his old Resurrector machine, which had been thankfully bolted down and was not damaged by the explosion when he landed after Jenna's summon. In it were the six elemental gems, and the third and final piece of the Triforce, all of which were being held in containment fields slotted into the machine. Tanis was charging toward him, so Ares grabbed as many of the Gems as he could get all at once, and used their energy to heal his wounds and regenerate himself. He felt extremely lucky that he had been given a chance to get back into the game.

Ares teleported again, wanting to see if there was any significance to the loss of the glowing eyes in his opponents. He was correct, none of them anticipated his move like before, and he caught the Zora Queen Iona utterly off guard. He lopped the Queen's right arm off solidly and was about to strike her neck, but Jenna saw him and launched a beam of fire at him. He raised a new shield, which took the impact easily, and returned fire with his own orb of red energy. Jenna's leg was blown clean off by the blast, and she fell to the ground unconscious almost instantly.

Ares knew that whatever psychic link that Shakara had developed was now gone, so he intruded on the minds of all in the room who not gifted with their own psychic abilities and sent them drifting off into the deepest slumber. All that remained now were Tanis and his own daughter.

Tanis came charging towards Ares, this time dual wielding energy swords with a look of desperation in his eyes. Ares dipped under the blades, kicked Tanis squarely in the stomach, and then twirled around and stabbed through his second neck. Tanis stumbled to the ground and clenched his belly, the wind had been knocked out of him and he could no longer use his powers. Ares kicked him in the sides a few more times to make sure he stayed down, and then walked over to Shakara. He didn't attack her, but he kept his shield up just in case. Shakara simply stood there, refusing to even look at him.

"Whatever it is that caused this mutiny, please tell me! I need to know everything I did to you so that I won't repeat it again! I cannot blame you for betraying me anymore, just please help me to help myself!"

"I should hope that you have a pen and some paper ready…the list is quite long." Shakara said, almost a whisper.

Suddenly, Shakara fell to her knees. Ares suddenly felt a wave of fear wash over him, he ran over to her and caught her as she toppled.

"What's wrong? Are you ill?" Ares asked.

Shakara silently pointed at her back, and Ares sat her up and looked. Originating at her implant plug and at the burned triple swords on Shakara's back were numerous cancerous masses, every single one of them visible lumps under her skin. They had spread over her like some kind of plague, and a few of them were open sores, leaking clear fluid out of her skin. Ares examined them psychically to find that they were extraordinarily malignant, and had already fanned out into numerous other parts of her body.

"Shakara…I…I don't understand! Why didn't you-"

"Heal myself with my psychic abilities? Trust me, I tried. Whenever I channeled the restorative energies into the tumors, they fed on it and grew instead of shrinking. There's no way for me, you, Tanis, or anyone to cure them."

"But…I should have known! I have to be able to fix this!"

"Face it dad, even you aren't good enough at genetic engineering to create a perfect being. Even if you made one, single, miniscule mistake, it could have lead to this. And every time I felt my anger for you, the cancer grew a little more inside me by feeding off of my emotions. Whenever I was happy it would stop, but that wasn't often enough."

"No! I won't let you slip away from me like this! I'll cut all of them out, even if it takes me twenty more years! I have the technology damnit!"

"I'm sorry father, but this is something you must accept. If you won't learn this lesson for yourself, then learn it for all the people you've subjugated. You can't keep deluding yourself any longer, it's time to live on and let life take you where it will."

Something inside Ares snapped, and he rose and walked over towards his Resurrector machine. This was the final straw that broke his conqueror's complex, and he was ready to give up his dreams pf conquest for Shakara know. He lowered the containment field around the final piece of the Triforce, knowing full well that he would only receive one wish, and if he gave it to Shakara then he would never have its power again.

The Triforce of Wisdom hovered free from its imprisonment, and the other two pieces tore loose from Ares' hand. The three reunited in a brilliant flare of gold, and the completed artifact drifted just above Ares' head.

"Unworthy one!" The voice of the Triforce boomed, nearly deafening all in the room. "Your black heart and corrupted mind are unfit to wield the complete power of the Triforce! You shall never again use our power to commit your heinous deeds, and we shall once again split into three-"

"Wait! Please, hear me out!" Ares interrupted. "I'm done with infinite power now. Please, I beg of you, just spare my daughter and give your power to her so she might live!"

The three Triangles hovered in utter silence for a moment. "Only an act of utter selflessness such as this could ever have redeemed you in our eyes, and thus it has been shown before us. Shakara will live."

The Triforce descended until it was just a few inches above Shakara's limp form. It cast a golden glow upon her, and for a few seconds she remained still. Then, she clambered to her knees and stood. She reached around and felt her back, the sores were gone and the lumps were shrinking and disappearing.

"Shakara et Benca, your father has given you a great gift. He has given up his ambitions of power, sacrificed his wish so that you might live. Is there any wish that you might have of the Gods?"

"I never want to have any of this happen to me ever again. I want to be free of all the negativity on my heart. I want to purge all the darkness that brought upon that sickness, and to be free to be happy again." Shakara replied.

"What you ask has dire consequences that you may not fully comprehend. It would be wise for you to reconsider." The voice of the Triforce said in return.

"No! This is what I want! I'm sick of living a life clouded by shame, regret, and sorrow! No more shall I carry this burden of blackness, it is rotting me away at the inside! Take it from me now!" Shakara cried.

"Very well, the wish is granted." The booming voice said, in an almost sad tone.

A muffled, percussive thud like that of a drum echoed from the Triforce, and Shakara closed her eyes. A bubble of golden energy projected from the three triangles and encased Shakara, and both of them began to fly up into the air through the twisted skylight. As Shakara and the Triforce were carried up into the night sky, they left a towering column of golden light below them, one which reached above them as well as they came to a stop halfway between the ground and the clouds. The column of light parted a hole in the clouds, which began to twist and twirl upon contact. The winds at every altitude began to pick up around this massive pillar to the sky in a spinning motion, picking up dust and debris as their speeds increased. When the winds got strong enough, the dust formed up into a giant tornado-like funnel cloud, which was radiating golden light from the center. This sight was so breathtaking to behold that many Hylians rose from their beds to stand and stare. The golden light shone brightest from the pseudo-tornado's epicenter where Shakara was, right in the very middle of the entire spectacle.

"No! This isn't right! I won't let it happen!" Ares bellowed and kicked off of the ground to fly towards Shakara in the center.

When he found her, incased in a blinding cocoon of light, he formed an energy sword and stabbed at it, trying to free her. He was utterly unsuccessful at even making a ripple in the orb that held his daughter, and in response he put all his energy and concentration into a rapid succession of blows. This lead him to unconsciously release the paralysis on all of the members of Tanis' party below, and they began to heal each other and recover their strength while he was distracted. Before Ares knew it, the entire team was up on their feet and ready for another round of combat, and Tanis rocketed up through the air towards him.

"Don't interfere Tanis! I'm trying to save my daughter and this has nothing to do with you!" Ares yelled belligerently.

"Despite whether you or I like it or not, we'll need to work together in order to save her!" Tanis yelled in reply.

Ares felt Tanis try to psychically link up to him, but it wasn't some form of attack. It felt like Tanis wanted to co-ordinate their movements, just as he and Shakara had done against him in the battle before. Ares was shocked, nay stunned to think that Tanis would be willing to take such a risk for the sake of Shakara, and he realized he had something in common he shared with Tanis, they both deeply cared about what happened to Shakara. He decided to accept Tanis' proposal and not to betray him, Shakara was now ultimately his number one priority.

When Ares did link minds with Tanis, he felt himself bathed in the warm glow of Tanis' emotions. There was a great shining positivity in Tanis that Ares could never have even dreamed of, its soothing purity calmed his mind and made him feel like everything was going to be alright. He also felt Tanis was indeed just as concerned about Shakara as he was, and he felt like, perhaps, he could share some sort of bond with Tanis should everything turn out alright? The irony bitterly stung at his pride that such thoughts could ring true, and he decided that it was indeed time for him to reorganize his life goals to include his family more than his ambition, that is, if given the chance.

Ares and Tanis began flying in perfect unison around Shakara's glowing form. They accelerated until glowing contrails followed behind them, forming an orange and red ring around the nucleus of the pseudo-tornado, making the whole assembly look like a massive atom. Ares' vision began to fade out as the G forces drained the blood from his head, and just as he was about to black out completely, he and Tanis broke off from their spin and soared directly away from Shakara at breakneck speed. They then curved around in beautifully synchronized arcs, retaining their momentum, to fly directly towards Shakara inside the imprisoning orb. Both Tanis and Ares formed spikes of energy on their feet and landed feet-first onto the orb, pushing all of their psychic power and physical momentum into the dual impact. But it was not enough, the sphere held.

Worse came to worse in fact, the power from these blows simply slid off of the barrier that the Triforce had created, and Ares and Tanis received the full force of each other's attacks. Ares felt his bones crush and his organs collapse when the blow struck him directly in his stomach, and he thought to himself how annoying it was that this kind of crap was happening to him so much tonight. The mental link that connected him to Tanis allowed them both to share each others' pain, so Ares had the privilege of feeling his own pain on top of the pain that Tanis was feeling from his injury as well, making his vision blur in danger of passing out. But the link allowed them both to share energy, and they pooled what was left after the failed attack to heal each other and keep from falling to their deaths. All in all, that attempt had been an utter waste of time and energy, and by now it was too late to prevent Shakara's separation. With another flash, this one not as bright, the bubble that had encased Shakara began to fade. The wind came to a screeching halt, and all the dust and debris that had been picked up by the pseudo-tornado suddenly began to fall. The clouds stopped spinning, the world grew silent, and two emerged from where there once was one.

**Chapter XXV**

"It was never supposed to be like this!" Ares lamented, hear heart writhing.

The Triforce had done its job well, an Angelic and a Demonic half of Shakara had been created, each opposed to the other in every way. Hardly anyone in the room except Tanis and Ares understood the significance of this event, nor its grave nature, and chills continually ran up and down Tanis' spine as the two opposing halves began to battle with each other. Nobody seemed to notice that the Triforce seemed to have disappeared, all of their attention was focused on the fantastic lightshow playing out in the skies above Hyrule. The Hylian people watched even more intently now, the bright flashes of energy were a spectacle none of them had ever beheld in their lives, and it seemed to flow in cycles of stalemate, neither side gaining any ground for nearly ten minutes.

Ares was paralyzed with confusion and grief, he knew that if either half killed the other, then both would die and he would lose his daughter forever, so he needed to act in some way. But he couldn't just pick a side and fight against the other, both of them were Shakara and he could not forgive himself if his actions lead to her death. Then, amidst the fighting, there was another golden flash, and the voice of the Triforce spoke again.

"Your heart is unbalanced between the Three Holy Attributes, and thus we shall split!"

Ares squinted to see what was happening, and he saw that two of the pieces of the Triforce were speeding away from the two combatants, one directly down towards the opened roof of the base. The Triforce of Courage, leaving a slightly blew trail of light, flew down and struck Kalana on the head, this time it had chosen the sister of its last recipient. Kalana fell to her knees and collapsed, and Ruru rushed to her side. The other piece of the Triforce speed off in an Easterly direction, and Ares lost sight of it quickly. When he turned back towards the battle, he saw that one of the combatants was plummeting like a stone, and was about to come to a bone crunching landing on the base's warped steel floors. Ares created a soft, cushioning psychic bubble to catch her, and saw that it was the bat-winged demonic version of Shakara, who was now unconscious and had the mark of the Triforce of Power on her forehead. The angel-winged half rocketed downward in pursuit, bearing two shining energy blades in her paws.

"Wait, stop!" Ares shouted, jumping in front of the blades.

"Move father! She stands for everything I hated about myself, and I must destroy her!"

"No! If you kill her, you will die yourself as well!" Ares shouted in reply, as small tears began to trickle from his eyes.

"I don't care, I cannot let her escape and perform the dark deeds that she so desperately craves!"

Ares lunged forward at his daughter's light side, and their energy shields clashed violently. He tried desperately to weaken or break her shield so he could paralyze her and re-merge them, but to no avail. Tanis and the others watched in awe, none of them knowing quite sure what to do.

"I'm going to re-merge you with her, and we'll be a happy family again!" Ares babbled hysterically as he pushed more and more energy into his attacks.

"Get real father, we never were a happy family in the first place and we never will be!"

"I won't let you die!" Ares bellowed in return.

Suddenly, a great bolt of dark energy collided with the light one's shield. The combined force of this strike and Ares' attacks burst the shield and tossed her end-over-end until the cracked her skull against the steel wall and fell unconscious to the ground. Ares whirled around to see the dark one standing victorious, a huge, vicious grin on her face.

"Well father, am I everything you hoped I would be?" the dark one hissed.

Ares stuttered for a moment before finding his voice. "No, and you must stop! I want my old daughter back!"

"Aww, but isn't this new form what you really wanted, a fellow conqueror to stand by your side on the brink of a new era of dominance?"

Ares was cut to the bone, the dark one's words were utterly true. But he also knew what he wanted now, and he knew that he had left that part of himself behind.

"No, I truly wanted a friend!" he yelled defiantly.

"Well, we can be great friends, you and I! Just make sure to give me final control of all the worlds we conquer together, and we'll be the perfect team!"

"No, I want my old daughter back! You must re-merge and go back to how you were!"

A look of annoyance played across the dark one's face. "The old Shakara is dead and gone now father, and you need to stop living in the past! I'm not called Darkess, and I plan on re-tracing my grandfather's footsteps into darkness!"

The angelic one's eyes flittered open, and a fraction of a second later a bolt of brilliant white energy pierced through Darkess' abdomen and exploded against the far wall.

"Then I will call myself Lightess, and I will dedicate myself to stopping you!"

Darkess gasped in surprise for a moment, but grinned again as energy from the Triforce of power healed her wound. "How rude of you to interrupt, you were going to get some speech time of your own too!"

Darkess and Lightess flew at each other and began battling again, but this time Tanis jumped off of his feet and flew in to intervene. He took Lightess' side and began to fire multiple energy beams at Darkess, but they had little effect on their own. Ares stood and watched again, still paralyzed by indecision, until a thought struck him. Should Darkess escape into space and hide, it would make finding her to re-merge with Lightess nearly impossible, so he finally decided to pick Lightess' side as well and join the fray.

Ares noticed right away how badly diminished his powers were without the Triforce, his power pool had been reduced to nearly a third of its size before he had started battling that night, and it showed significantly when he fought against Darkess. She blocked all of his attacks deftly and dealt out vicious blows with her own energy sword, and Tanis wondered if this was how Tanis had felt before they had become allies. He was forced to take up a co-operative strategy with Tanis and Lightess, and he wondered briefly if Tanis would offer to link their minds again for coordinating their attacks.

After only a few minutes of intense swordplay, Darkess halted her assault for a moment and looked at each of her opponents in turn. She let her energy sword fade, and then grinned maliciously. "You all make a good team, and I must say that this has been interesting. But I have far much to do to play around here, so I'm going to have to end this now."

Darkess flew up above her three opponents and collected as much energy out of her piece of the Triforce as she could, adding her own energy to it. When Ares sensed how much energy was gathering, he felt a cold, shivering blast of fear run up and down his spine. He could tell that even with Tanis and Lightess alongside him, he could still never block Darkess' attack. He wanted to run away, to teleport to another place on this planet and hide, but he knew that Darkess would eventually find him. He resigned himself to keep fighting anyway; he was too dedicated to bringing Shakara back to flee.

Darkess fired a beam of energy nearly five feet in diameter down at the three of them, composed of an unholy mix of Triforce energy and dark energy. Ares and his team raised a shield to block, but when the dark beam struck it, it bent inward and began to collapse. Ares felt himself turn cold as the shield drew on his life force, and his knees gave way. He fell to his knees and looked up to see the shield beginning to buckle, and said sorry to Shakara in his mind one final time.

When the shield didn't collapse and death didn't come, Ares opened his eyes and saw one of the Weyardians that he had held prisoner now standing beside him, sending her own energy. The red haired girl named Jenna had joined up with him, despite all the hours of torture she had endured by his command. Suddenly, three more of her companions stepped in and contributed, and the shield began to brighten and expand against Darkess' attack. Then, all of them followed, as well as the Hylians and Zoras, and Ares climbed back to his feet. Warmth crawled back into his body again, and he smiled in wonderment at the selflessness of those he had subjugated before. He felt their emotions and their energy as they grouped behind him, and decided that he would give them all their freedom should he ever get the chance.

The shield that Ares' team had raised changed, it expanded and grew into a great orb of energy, pushing Darkess' beam back in her face. Darkess' expression changed from one of smug superiority to terror and panic. She tried to pull even more energy from the Triforce, but instead was met with only a burning pain in her right arm. She kept trying over and over again, expecting a last minute save, until the energy from Ares' team broke through her attack and blasted the entire lower half of her body into oblivion.

Darkess began to fall out of the sky like a warplane that had been hit by flak, and Ares saw her lower half begin to re-grow and regenerate. He flew up to catch her, and then severed her second neck with an energy sword to put an end to the healing process. He then flew back down victorious, and the Weyardians cheered.

Ares set Darkess' charred form down and turned to launch a surprise attack at Lightess. Lightess had not expected such backstabbing, and fell to the floor paralyzed by Ares' energy. He then picked her up and carried her towards Darkess, preparing to re-merge the two of them back into his daughter again. A sudden shriek pierced the air, followed by many shuffling footsteps, and Ares felt burning agony skewer his stomach. He dropped Lightess and turned to see one of his own Acolytes, Agryn no less, holding the energy blade that had stabbed him. Agryn's normally purple eyes were slowly turning a deep, bloody red. The implant on Agryn's head was beeping wildly, and the symbol on his forehead had simply fallen off. Other Acolytes, previously unconscious after the system crash, had gotten to their feet and taken the Weyardians prisoner with paralyzing attacks. Hundreds more of them emerged out of every corridor, surrounding them in a huge circle.

"Checkmate!" Darkess cackled, now free from Ares' psychic grip.

Agryn yanked the sword out of Ares' stomach, and Ares topped over onto his side. He tried to heal himself again, but his energy stores were low again already, and Agryn hit him with a paralyzing attack. "How?" he managed to sputter.

"I saw an opportunity and I took it!" Darkess laughed as her legs regrew. "Your Acolytes were lying leaderless on the ground, their minds easily accessible and controlled. I'm surprised you didn't try this yourself, so I picked the slack for you by conquering and restructuring your entire psionic network with my mind, and now every one of your Acolytes bows to my command!"

"Then I have no choice!" Lightess shouted, and then raised an energy sword, preparing to stab herself in the head. She knew that if she died, Darkess also died.

The Acolytes all moved in unison, they easily overwhelmed Lightess with their collective power and paralyzed her too, and she fell on the floor just the same as Ares. Now the entire group was on the ground in this manner, and Darkess held all the cards. Ares' mind reeled with fear as he tried to predict what Darkess would do with all of them.

Darkess stood there, thinking for a moment, and then walked over to Kalana, who was still out cold after receiving the Triforce of Wisdom. Darkess created an energy sword and sliced Kalana's entire right arm off to take the Triforce, and then frowned when it prepared to fly at her skull,

"There has to be a better way to do this than the skull-bashing method!" Darkess said, and then dodged to the side.

When the second piece of the Triforce missed her head, Darkess then jumped to her feet and grabbed it with her right hand. She squeezed it as hard as she could, and forced it to enter her hand directly. It burrowed into the skin next to its counterpart, and Darkess cringed, then smiled.

"Perfect." Darkess said, and turned towards Ares. "Now all that's left is for me to find the final piece, and I'll be able to live out your dreams father!"

"It's right here!" a human voice shouted, and Darkess whirled around to see the dark haired girl Ashley standing in a doorway.

Ashley whipped off her trainer's fingerless glove, revealing the Triforce of Courage in the back of her hand. "Plus, I don't think that you're ready to receive it just yet anyway!"

Darkess was taken aback for a moment, and then grinned again. "Well well well, if it isn't my least favorite human on Earth! My, I'm going to enjoy killing you! But why is it that you think I'm not ready to receive the Triforce yet?"

"Watch this. Merge!" She shouted, and suddenly the Triforce pieces in Darkess' hand ripped free. The piece in Ashley's hand pulled free as well, and all three re-united for the second time that night.

"Hey, that's mine!" Darkess shouted angrily.

Ashley jumped up into the air to touch the Triforce first, hoping to gain its power instead of letting it fall into Darkess' hands. But Darkess simply teleported in between Ashley and the golden artifact, and smashed her away with her tail. Ashley tumbled to the ground, rolling like a stuffed dummy. Darkess laughed, and then touched the Triforce greedily, thinking of all the things she would do with its power.

"Away with you!" The voice of the Triforce bellowed, now in a tone of unsuppressed rage. "You are more than unworthy of the complete power of the Triforce!"

"Unworthy, am I? I'll show you how unworthy I am!" Darkess laughed.

From the thunder torn night sky descended thousands of glimmering lights, each one converging above Ares' base. As they grew in the distance, Ares saw them to be nearly all of his old warships, now flying under Darkess' control instead of his. Battlecruisers, Destroyers, Carriers, and every other class of ship descended to hover over Hyrule, their hulls reflected the flashes of lightning in the night sky. Darkess commanded the hundreds of thousands of Acolytes aboard them to send her their energy, and they obeyed. A flaming black aura of power surrounded Darkess' body as she absorbed the collective energy from all of Ares' empire. She waved her hands and encased the completed Triforce with a dark bubble of energy, holding the pieces together to prevent them from splitting again. The Triforce reacted with a supernova-like blast of golden energy within this imprisoning shield, thinning it and distending it considerably. Ruru and Onta gasped in awe and terror when that shield held however, they were shocked and amazed to see that the power of the Triforce had been matched. The bubble shrank down again, until it encapsulated each triangle in an aura of darkness.

"Ha! Behold the power of the Gods contained!" Darkess laughed.

Darkess grabbed the Triforce out of the air like Christmas ornaments suspended by fishing line, it no longer resisted her control. She turned it over a couple of times in her hands, and then snapped her fingers when an idea came to her. She walked over to the Resurrector machine, which had been bolted to the floor and had not been blown away when Jenna's summon smashed Ares into the base. She placed the Triforce into its intended slot on the machine, causing it to hum to life with power. She teleported all six of the Elemental Gems into her hands, and then placed them too into their slots in the machine.

"What are you going to do with my machine?" Ares asked feebly.

"I need a new body, father, one that won't die when Lightess dies, and one that you won't be able to re-merge with Lightess. I'm going to use this amazing piece of machinery of yours to grow myself a new body with just those requirements, and then I'll transfer my mind into that body, kill Lightess, and proceed to conquer the galaxy!"

"It'll take years to grow a full body though, are you really that patient?" Ares asked.

Darkess tilted her head and thought for a moment, and then smiled and bent over to open a panel on the side of the machine. She tinkered with the device's innards for several innards before closing it up and wiping the dust off of her paws. She walked over to the line of paralyzed prisoners and smiled.

"Would any of you like to volunteer for a job of utmost importance to me?" she asked, a look of malevolent mischief on her face.

None of those who were still conscious among the group responded, and Darkess walked over to stand before Tanis. "How about you, my old friend?"

Tanis looked up at her with a woeful gaze, saying nothing. Darkess grinned and decided to use him; she picked him up with her mind and stood him up on top of the Resurrector, which had lost its glass top during Jenna's summon. Wires and electrodes floated up and stuck to his body in various places, making him look like an experiment from some freakish horror movie.

"Now for the proper settings…" Darkess said, and began removing Elemental Gems from the machine. She removed every single one except for the Darkness Gem. Her hand hovered over the activation button for a moment, and then she stepped back and rubbed her chin.

"Everything needs to be absolutely perfect before I proceed…" Darkess said, thinking and looking around the room. "Oh, I've got it!"

Darkess turned toward one of the Acolytes under her control. "Red is nice, but I like char black better." She said.

Every single Acolyte in the room twitched for a moment and stood up straighter. Their skin and fur slowly darkened from red to black, and their horns curved to points.

"That's better, now you're truly my Centurions!" Darkess said, grinning broadly.

Next, the hulls of all of Ares' red-painted warships darkened to black, and his symbol was stricken from them, as well as from the halls of the base. The Centurions all began to line up neatly as if attention.

"Now for the final touch, my witnesses!" Darkess said, and lined up all the paralyzed prisoners to face the Resurrector. Those that were injured or unconscious she healed and revived so that they could watch with full attention.

All of the Centurions in the room began to chant in a low, ominous tone, speaking Hylian words for an ancient dark ritual.

"I don't know what it is you're going to do, but I've hope that somebody someday finds away to stop you." Ashley said venomously as she was made to kneel like all the others.

"…Ashley?" Tanis groaned, trying to lift his head.

Darkess reached around and slammed her paw against the activation button. Electric jolts rocked Tanis' body, causing him to have several seizures before standing rigid. The machine hummed loudly, almost as an accompaniment to the Centurions' chanting, and Tanis' body began to morph. The skin where the electrodes were attached to him began to darken, and the dark spots grew and spread. Tanis began to gain muscle mass, and he hunched forward and bellowed at the top of his lungs as he was wracked with pain. It looked like plague spots were fanning out all over his body. Claws suddenly pushed their way up through the skin on Tanis' fingertips, causing blood to trickle forth from the wounds they opened as they emerged. The same process occurred on Tanis' feet as well. When the spreading Darkness covered Tanis' head, his golden forehead symbol began to twist and sprout spines. The normally smooth gold darkened into some sort of blackened metal, and it caused rivulets of blood to drip down Tanis' face as it sprouted numerous barbs and etched its new form into his head. He let another pained howl, and the pupils slowly faded from his eyes, causing the blood to run cold in the paralyzed witnesses. Two pairs of parallel bat wings, the same as Darkess', sprouted from his back, both dripping the same cloudy black blood. His horns curled up and bent into spines, and more spines sprouted from his back in a line down his spinal cord and down both sides of his tail. When the transformation was completed, he let out an ear shattering, primal roar like some angered beat, and broke through the psychic bubble that Darkess had held him with. The wires of the machine all fell off at once, and he stepped down from the machine, leaving a trail of black blood behind him.

"Do you know what it is that you've done, you fool?" Ruru cried out suddenly.

"Yes! I've created my ultimate form, 'Damnation'!" Darkess said victoriously, and then turned towards her creation. "Now I will transfer my mind into him and destroy this old body."

Darkess spread her arms wide and closed her eyes, then stood there for several moments. Damnation grunted once, and then picked her up in his massive paws. She opened her eyes and blinked for a moment in confusion, and then Damnation gripped her and pulled her body in half, unleashing a splash of blood and letting the organs dump out. Darkess screamed in horror, but was silenced quickly when Damnation threw her like a baseball against the wall, knocking her out in an instant. He then crouched down and began to feast on the other half of Darkess like a lion at the kill, and all the psychic bubbles holding onto the witnesses faded away and they were free from their paralysis.

Ares saw his opportunity, he flew over towards Darkess, who was now barely clinging to life. He picked her up and began to heal her, letting her remain unconscious. Once she was mostly restored, he threw her on top of Lightess and surrounded them both in a psychic bubble. He used all that was left of his energy to re-merge them, and they were blocked out of sight behind the glowing red bubble. Ares hurried as fast as he could with the process, knowing that Damnation could finish with his meal at any moment, and when the bubble faded, Shakara's original form slowly emerged. She groggily opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Father….I..." She said quietly.

"As long as you're alive, I'm happy." Ares said, smiling warmly at her.

Ares suddenly gasped, and blood began spurting out of his mouth. Shakara reeled back in terror as his blood splashed her face, and she looked up to see that one of Damnation's tail spines had ripped through his back. He collapsed on the blood soaked floor, and Damnation raised his massive foot and brought it down on Ares' head, crushing his skull and permanently extinguishing his life.

"Father! No!" Shakara cried in anguish. She began to sob, and her tears washed his blood from her face.

Damnation walked over Ares' bloody remains and picked Shakara up, preparing to pull her in half yet again.

"Not this time, pal!" Shakara suddenly bellowed, and she sent psychic fire into Damnation's paws. He roared angrily and dropped her like a hot potato.

Damnation created a massive orb of psychic energy and prepared to lob it at Shakara, but she teleported behind his back and swung an energy sword at his second neck. But he raised his wings to shield himself and she chopped right through one of them instead. Black blood poured out like water from a garden hose, and his tail flicked up and batted her away, its spines puncturing her in numerous places. A surge of energy filled Shakara, healing her wounds and powering her up, and she looked to see that the Centurions in the room had aided her. She realized that she had still retained their allegiance, even though Darkess was now long gone. The whole of her father's empire was at her command now, and she rushed to implement it.

The power from every single Centurion in ever single ship rushed through Shakara's veins, and the world seemed to slow down around her. There were no words to describe the scale of the power she felt, energy from three whole worlds was at her fingertips now, and she shone a brilliant red. As she prepared to decimate the monster that had killed her father, Shakara heard a lone voice call out to her.

"Don't kill him! Somewhere behind him Tanis still exists!" Ashley called out.

Shakara nodded, and then rushed forward with a new plan in mind. This time she moved much too fast for Damnation to react, she sliced off every single spine on his body, topping it off by taking off his remaining wings as well. Damnation howled in rage and surrounded himself with a maelstrom of dark energy, but Shakara teleported out of the way. She took the moment to teleport the rest of her friends to safety as well, moving Ashley, the Weyardians, and the Hylians to safety outside the base. When the energy storm faded and Shakara reappeared, she now faced him alone.

"I'm sorry for everything I'm about to do, Tanis." She whispered, closing here eyes for a moment.

Shakara created a swarm of smaller-sized energy spheres and dispersed them throughout the room evenly. Beams of light less than an inch in diameter shot out from these orbs, connecting them together and forming a huge lattice of burning lasers throughout the room. Shakara then drew them all together towards Damnation, who raised his own shield to block them. The beams collided with the shield with tremendous force, each carrying the energy from all the Centurions under Shakara's control. Damnation's shield didn't break, but the beams bent it into numerous hemispheres, which bulged and quivered under the force of Shakara's attacks. Shakara formed another group of these orbs, but instead of linking them together, she fired them directly at Damnation's shield, targeting the weakest regions of each hemisphere. When each hit his shield, they bent it inward and weakened it even further, and she formed more as fast as they were used. In this manner she created a rapid-fire barrage that chipped away slowly at Damnation's energy until at last his shield gave way and shattered into pieces from each hemisphere.

Shakara sped forward to attack the moment the shield fell, and Damnation reached a massive paw up to catch her like a speeding baseball. His claws raked across her body, rending her skin off and tearing the muscles underneath. She responded by forming two energy swords and slicing them both through damnation's wrist like a pair of scissors, totally severing his hand. Damnation bellowed so loudly that Shakara's ears rang loudly, and she used the Centurions' energy to heal the gashes that his claws had created. Damnation stopped his bellow halfway through and fired a gigantic beam of dark energy from his mouth, an attack that made Darkess' previous beam attack look like a pittance. Shakara barely had time to raise her shield, and the beam struck it and propelled her straight into the ground. The power of the Centurions held her shield together even as the beam continued on behind her, blasting a tunnel into the Earth several miles long. Shakara emerged unharmed from the cloud of dust and smoke. She mirrored Damnation's last attack, firing a beam of her own that blasted a smoking, circular hole through his stomach. It began to close up immediately as Damnation used his recover ability, and new spines and wings began growing. Shakara wouldn't allow him to heal however, she formed a shield around herself and flew directly inside the hole in Damnation's stomach and used it to prop his wound open. She forced it open even further by expanding her shield, applying pressure against his other organs, until he was broken entirely in half. A part of Shakara smiled at her ironic revenge.

Shakara stood over Damnation, who was now finally quiet in the grip of unconsciousness. She pondered on how to bring Tanis back, and quietly came to terms with the prospect of never seeing him again. An idea flashed to life in her head, and she looked back toward the Resurrector machine. But she frowned and became crestfallen again, realizing that she needed some trace of Tanis' old self in order to reverse the transformation. Such an object had not been needed to create Damnation since the Darkness Gem had been used as the sole basis for self, and for it to be reversed, the machine needed something else to use as a reference for creation. She then bent over Damnation's dying form in order to say Tanis' last rites.

As Shakara whispered her words for Tanis' words, her eyes caught a tiny glimpse of gold. She looked closer and saw that there was still a trace of gold left in Damnation's forehead crest, gold that had used to be a part of Tanis's own crest. Her heart pounded with excitement, and she pried out the tiny speck of gold with one of her claws. It was barely smaller than a pebble and had very little shine or luster left, but it was a brilliant nugget of hope for Shakara, and she carried it over to the Resurrector machine and put it in a slot. She took quick action by picking up Damnation and healing his vital organs so he wouldn't die, but left him unconscious. She set him back onto the Resurrector and hooked him up to all the wires once more. She reinserted all the other Elemental Gems, double checked to see that the Triforce was still in place, and pushed the activation switch.

"Come on Tanis, I know you're still in there!" Shakara urged quietly as the machine hummed to life.

Damnation's slumped body began to quiver, and then started to shrink. The spines and claws all fell out at once, replaced by regular skin, and the wings shriveled and fell off. The spined horns slowly receded back to Tanis' normal horns, and his skin began to lighten back into its original orange color. The forehead crest was the last to change, it slowly smoothed out, losing its barbs, and returned to its original shape and golden sheen. But it didn't stop there, the golden crest spread across his head like a great royal crown, and more lines of gold crept down Tanis' body, one for each limb and one on his tail. His entire body was adorned in this manner, making him take on a spectacular air of some kind of king or god, and the machine finally fell silent. Shakara pulled him down and removed all the wires, admiring the new additions to his appearance. She saw that the implant plug which Agryn had put in him had also fallen out, and not even a scar was leftover. He groaned and opened his eyes, and Shakara sighed in relief when she saw that his deep purple pupils had returned.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked of him, cradling him in her arms like a child.

"Horrible…you're not going to shove a bag of food over my head are you?" Tanis asked weakly, with a smile touching his mouth.

Shakara blinked once, then remembered and smiled.

**Chapter XXVI**

Explosions shook Hyrule as Ares' ships fired their plasma turrets down at several ground-based targets. But this time the plasma bolts weren't aimed at rebels or Hylian citizens, but directly at Ares' old HQ and several of his other installations. Not half an hour before, the mines and cities on the sides of Death Mountain had been abuzz with Goron slave laborers, but now they stood evacuated and were slowly blown into oblivion at Shakara's command. The mines closed up and melted together and under the superheated salvo, and the dirty industrial towers fell in on themselves, leaving nothing but a molten slag pile. Ares' HQ soon joined them until nothing was left to evidence Ares' rule except molten scars upon the land.

Several miles away Shakara and Tanis stood at the head of a huge crowd of cheering Hylian people. Though Tanis couldn't understand a word of the Hylian word, he did understand the universal sentiment that they were displaying, and he watched the ships finish their job with a smile in his eyes.

Ashley finally pushed her way through the last parts of the crowd and suddenly clung to Tanis like a lamprey. "I'm so glad you changed back!" She said, bordering on tears of joy.

"Hey, you know I wouldn't give up, even if I was already on the brink of death!" Tanis sais, tousling Ashley's hair again.

Ashley slowly let go of him, and then looked at him slowly. "I like the new getup." She said, looking down at the new lines of gold that had trailed down his body.

Tanis smiled for a moment. "You know, to be honest, I don't have the foggiest memory of what happened to me after I was strapped into that machine."

"Let's just say that while you were out, I got knocked around quite a bit, my father was killed, and I inherited his empire. All that, in a nutshell anyway." Shakara said.

"I assumed as much, since the ships were destroying the base." Tanis said.

"It's my first and only act as the ruler of this world, to throw down the mantle of control itself. It's time that these people thought for themselves." Shakara said.

When the final plasma shot was fired and the explosions slowly fell silent, an extraordinary thing happened. The Black River, which had been partially powered by the emotional energy of the subjugated peoples, began to change color. No-one could see it from the ground because of the thick layer of clouds in the sky, but the Black River was now turning from the black of sorrow to the blue of joy. As ships flying over Weyard and Earth also completed their tasks of liberation, the Black Rivers over those worlds also changed the same bright, cheerful blue. Somewhere, deep underground back at Earth, the Acolytes had just stopped their gory task of destroying the rebel colony, and suddenly turned to leave. The last haggard battalion of defenders there, led by the brown haired Major named John, erupted in cheers that paralleled those of the Hylians.

Shakara's ships now descended up into the sky, leaving deep red contrails behind them before breaking holes through the clouds and disappearing. With the end of the spectacle, the people of Hyrule gathered in the streets of Hyrule Castle City and began a wild party in celebration of their freedom. The crowd that had gathered around Tanis rushed forward towards the City gates to join in the revelries. Tanis, Ashley and Shakara stayed behind however, they felt that it wasn't their place to stop the Hylians from celebrating since they had lived so long under oppression. In fact, Shakara was about to summon a dropship to carry them home when someone else approached them from behind. Kalana, the Gerudo Elder, patted Tanis on the shoulder. Behind and around her were everyone else who had fought against Ares and then Darkess back in the base.

"Tanis, Shakara, we all have something we want to say to you." Kalana said, smiling at him.

Tanis and Shakara looked at each other for a moment, and then back at the crowd of their companions. Kalana took their silence as an acceptance and began.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say that you have done great deeds here tonight."

"Here here!" Jenna interrupted enthusiastically.

Kalana rolled her eyes ever-so-slightly, and continued. "You defeated overwhelming odds, brought us all together, and most importantly, brought hope to three different worlds."

"Sheesh, even the good guys are full of clichés tonight!" Ashley quipped, and Tanis jokingly slugged her on the shoulder.

"At any rate, Hyrule and its people owe you a great debt of gratitude to you." Kalana finished.

"Weyard as well!" Felix added, striding up to stand next to Kalana.

"Hey listen, I only did what I felt was right, and I never would have done any less. You owe me nothing. As I told Ashley here once, I never keep tabs for friends." Tanis said, returning their smiles.

"Oh come now, you must let us do something for you!" Aquel insisted, standing slightly behind Kalana.

"Well…you could throw us our own private party, one that would put that one to shame." Tanis said, pointing to Hyrule Castle City, where numerous fireworks were now exploding.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Ashley exclaimed, jumping into the air excitedly.

"That's an excellent idea! We'll host it at the Gerudo Palace!" Ruru said enthusiastically.

"Alright, but next time we're having it at the Zora's Domain!" Iona said.

"Come on, I want to see that famous Gerudo hospitality you promised me!" Aquel said excitedly.

The party turned out to be everything that Kalana promised. Every Gerudo in Hyrule that had not already fled was celebrating, but Kalana managed to get them their own private room in the Palace along with a large table full of food. Tanis and Shakara were the guests of honor, but in truth the party celebrated the heroic deeds of everyone who had participated in the battle, even Ashley. They all greatly enjoyed each others' company, and laughed and talked into the wee hours of the morning and beyond. Ashley, Kalana and Jenna even developed their own secret handshake. When they all finally began to grow tired, Shakara stepped up behind a small podium to give a speech.

"My friends, please listen to me for a moment." Shakara began, and the room quickly fell quiet. "I know we all have gone through quite an ordeal tonight, and that we all want to put it behind us as quickly as possible. But with our victory, some new issues have arisen."

"Now that Hyrule has been liberated, the question arises of how we should proceed in the reconstruction of all the nations that my father devastated. And not just physical destruction either, he wiped out all the social and governmental structures of every society he touched, and replaced them with one that favored his rule. Now that he has been toppled, all of the nations of these worlds are stranded in a great power vacuum with no-one to lead them. Undoubtedly after the celebrating is over, the people will be confused as to who to follow and will eventually descend into wars over dominance. We need a solution to this problem immediately."

"Dantun has already chosen her new king!" Aquel piped up proudly.

"I am the next in the line of succession for the Zora Royal Family, I will take up that crown." Onta said in turn.

"And my sister has agreed that I am ready to take up Eldership of the Gerudos." Ruru added.

"That's good, but the greater Hylian Throne still sits empty!" Tanis said.

Everyone in the room exchanged glances, but nobody blurted out any ideas. Ever since Ares had executed Sirpala, the Hylian bloodline seemed to have been exterminated.

"That's alright, I didn't expect anyone to come up with one magic solution right off of the top of their head." Shakara said reassuringly.

"We can always bring back the old Hylian Unity Council, and use it to decide who will next inherit the throne!" Kalana suggested.

An excited murmur flowed through the partygoers, and Shakara nodded in approval. "That's an excellent idea." She said.

"What are you going to do with your father's ships?" Ashley asked.

"I'm going to use them in a peacekeeping and protective force. They will be put on indefinite hold in orbit around the three worlds, only to be called on again to stop any future attempts at conquest. I'm also going to keep the Black River active as well, but this time not as a tool of empire, but of communication and commerce." Shakara said.

Everyone in the room seemed to forget how tired they were feeling, and applauded loudly as Shakara stepped down from the podium. Card games suddenly broke out, and everyone either didn't care about the time or just forgot completely. Kalana and Ruru taught everyone how to play "Keese & Leevers", and soon they were all absorbed in this addictive Hylian game.

"So, do you want Tanis and I to fly you home via the Black River tomorrow?" Shakara asked Jenna as they looked over their hands of cards.

Jenna set her hand down and conversed with Felix for a moment. The whole group mulled it over for a moment, and then Jenna spoke. "Kalana's given us a very generous offer to stay for a week or two here in Hyrule, and we've agreed. We want to take a tour of this place and relax for awhile.

"We're going to have to give her a tour of Angara once we get back home to Weyard!" Mia said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

By the time the sun rose again over Hyrule, everyone had reached their physical limit and were more than ready to hit the sack. Kalana and Ruru found them rooms to sleep in, and they finally took full rests for the first time in many days.

**Conclusion I**  
A

The Gerudo Palace was alive with activity, and the lively sounds of hammers and grinding saws filled the air. Beams of sunlight fell from the holes in the Palace roof, only to be blocked off as the Gerudos worked diligently to patch and repair the glorious structure. Tanis, Shakara, Ashley, and even the Weyardians were all there helping with the reconstruction, and over the course of three days the Palace was restored to its former beauty. The tiling was painted, new layers of paint added, holes were filled, and broken windows were replaced until it was even more beautiful than before.

It was now almost two weeks after the fall of Ares, and now most of the Gerudos that had fled as refugees had returned to their home here the plains. Reconstruction had began in other places across Hyrule as well, and Shakara's ships flew down one by one, carrying building materials and Centurions to help with the rebuilding. In the midst of all this, a new meeting of the Hylian Unity Council was finally arranged. Tanis and Shakara were invited to sit alongside Ruru and Kalana as honorary council members for this meeting, and it took several minutes of urging from Ashley for Tanis to reluctantly agree to attend. When it was time for them to leave for the meeting, Felix and his party decided the stay back at the palace, they didn't want to interfere with the governing of Hyrule.

Tanis flew his companions across Hyrule field from the Palace, partially because they needed to get there quickly, and partly because he wanted to share the joyous experience of flight with them. Ruru laughed in glee as the fields rolled past underneath them, and Kalana stared up at the sky in silent appreciation. It didn't take long for them to arrive, and when they did the Castle was also alive with activity. The people were busy scrubbing Ares' symbols off of the walls and taking down the signs and edicts he had posted.

The four of them rushed into the Castle, and found that once again, they were the last to arrive, and all the other delegates had been sitting there waiting for them. Since the Hylians and the Gorons no longer had leaders to sit in on the council, it had been agreed on that they should send in their wisest scholars to take their place until new leaders were chosen. Shakara, Tanis, Kalana and Ruru took their seats on the left of Iona and the session began.

"This emergency meeting of the new Hylian Unity Council will come to order." The Hylian scholar said, and all the members bowed respectfully.

"The first matter before this council is the choice of a new leader for the Hylian state. This issue is critical for the future of every other sub-kingdom in Hyrule, since this leader will speaker for all the peoples who live in Hyrule. The candidates are numerous and the time is short, as we need to choose one tonight before the end of this meeting." Kalana said.

Kalana produced a list of candidates and began to read aloud their names and qualifications. Tanis laid back in his seat and sighed heavily, boredom quickly descending on him. The name reading lasted for nearly twenty minutes, and none of those mentioned really seemed to stand out in any way. One or two of them has some impressive scholastic achievements, but none of them seemed to fit the role of leader.

"Well none of those seem any good, so I nominate Lord Tanis!" Iona said, breaking the tedium quite abruptly.

The council members were surprised by Iona's outburst, but none of them rejected her proposal outright.

"I second the nomination!" Kalana added, and the other council members nodded.

"Now hold on a second here!" Tanis said, blushing from the flattery. "There is much more to consider here before making such a snap judgment!"

"All in favor?" Iona asked heartily.

"I!" Cried everyone except Shakara and Tanis himself.

"Against?" Iona asked.

"Nay!" said Tanis alone. "Now listen! I refuse to accept such a position from the sheer fact that I'm not even from Hyrule, and I'm not even of the same species!"

"We still vote for a Hylian King or queen, even though they are not the same species as us!" Onta said, and Iona nodded.

Tanis shook his head and marveled at the tenacity and stubbornness that these people were showing. He knew he didn't want any kind of position of power, it wasn't something he had ever strived for in his life. But the idea occurred to him, perhaps if he were king, he could ensure that the people always lived in a peaceful way?

At the precise moment that Tanis thought this, the doors to the council chamber were thrown open, and a cloaked stranger came barging into the room. The cloak was a grubby, stained green with multiple holes and patches, giving the intruder the appearance of a peasant or pauper.

"What in Farore's name do you think you're doing? This is a closed session, and nobody outside of the Unity Council is allowed in!" The Goron scholar bellowed angrily.

The intruder pulled off her cloak, revealing the Lost Golden Tiara of the Hylian Queen resting upon her head. It was the very same circlet that Sirpala had worn, and Zelda many generations had worn before. It glinted jovially on the dusty, middle-aged woman's face. There was a shocked, unbelieving silence in the room as all the council members realized the significance of this event.

"I am Ilana, daughter of Sirpala and rightful heir to the Hylian throne. I have been in hiding from the Iresian tyranny for forty-three long years, and now I have returned to assume my duty of leadership."

The council members sat there and gawked for a moment, and Tanis stood straight up out of his seat and looked Ilana in the eye. He looked into her mind and read her memories, finding nothing but truth within them. He saw images of her fleeing from Hyrule under the cover of night, her mother whisking her out through the back door of the Castle just as the Iresians took control. He saw her taking up the role of a Dantunian farmer peasant and toiling endlessly for the many years of her banishment, wearing the rags of the less fortunate. He sensed that her mind was filled with love and sympathy for the poor, and realized that she would be just as good of a protector for them as he would have been. He then decided he would staunchly support her and refuse to take the throne no matter how much the council begged him to.

"She speaks the truth!" Tanis declared. "I looked into her mind and saw it myself, she is sincere and trustworthy."

There was murmuring amongst the council, and the Hylian scholar stood and protested. "So your lineage is proven, but what of your skills as a leader?"

"Indeed, if you took the throne today, what would your plan be for Hyrule's future?"

Ilana sighed. "I am not fully aware of the scope or breadth of the destruction to Hyrule since I have only recently traveled in from Dantun, so I cannot form a clear and complete plan here as I stand. But what I will do is provide shelter and relief for all the destitute and homeless created by Ares' regime."

Many of the council members smiled and nodded approvingly.

"That's precisely the kind of answer I was looking for." Kalana said, "You didn't try to give me one great, impossible, all-encompassing solution, but you did make sure to propose a compassionate solution to help those in need. That was indeed a wise statement."

"You have the lineage, the wisdom, and the Tiara, but do you have the strength of will to hold the throne during trying times of hunger and hardship?" Iona asked.

"Look upon these scars on my arms, these calluses on my hands, and this tanned face, and you will see the strength in me that kept me working as a peasant throughout my entire life since my banishment. I will work this land into new glory, just as I wrought life from the barren soil of the Dantunian plains." Ilana said.

Everyone in the room was equally impressed with Ilana's speech, even Shakara.

"All in favor of Ilana's ascension?" Kalana asked.

The voting was close, but Ilana won in the end thanks to Tanis' one vote. Tanis felt a hint of self doubt about helping to elect her, but he decided not to do any more than just say a few words.

"In all honesty, I'd have preferred to have seen some form of democratic government installed here, but I also know that it takes a strong leader to rebuild a nation, and I still feel that I don't have a place to meddle too deeply here in a government that is not my own. I've already done far more than I have a right to by sitting in on this council." Tanis said.

"Nonsense! You have more than earned your seat on this council! Your opinions are just as valid as any of ours." Iona said.

"You have no need to worry about my reign becoming oppressive, Liberator Tanis. I have lived my life among the common people, and I will always act in their interest."

* * *

B

Ashley lowered the final piece of colored glass into place and stepped back to admire her work. Tanis' victorious form stood proudly immortalized in the medium of a stained glass window.

"It's ready!" Ashley called, and Shakara descended from where she had been working on an empty window well.

Shakara waved her paw once over the window, and the grey substance between each piece of glass hardened instantly. She then picked the entire pane up with her mind, flew up to the empty window well, and fused the new window into place.

"Well, what do you think?" Ashley asked of Tanis, who had been standing behind her and observing the whole thing.

Tanis didn't speak, and Ashley turned around to see him blushing up a storm again.

"Oh come on, Mr.-I-can't-take-a-compliment! It was their choice to honor you, and besides, you truly deserve credit for going through what you did!" Ashley said, slapping him on the back.

"Still, I wish that the Hylians would stop treating my like I was some kind of god. I just want to be treated like everyone else." Tanis said, taking a moment to appreciate Ashley's craftsmanship.

Shakara flew around the entire structure a few times, and then through its inner halls to check and ensure that everything was perfect. She emerged alongside Felix and his crew and sighed in relief. They all looked up at the product of their hard work and smiled.

"It's finally done, I've finished rebuilding all six of Hyrule's Elemental Temples." Shakara said in great relief.

"You mean WE rebuilt them." Ashley corrected, and Shakara smiled briefly.

The ships that were resting on the plains nearby roared to life, their engines flared blue and their jet black hulls kicked off of the ground. They ascended rapidly into the sky and faded into the clear blue at Shakara's command. They had finished they task of assisting in the reconstruction, and were returning to orbit where they would remain for an untold number of years.

"Well, are you guys ready to go home now?" Tanis asked, turning towards the group of Weyardians. "You've had your tour of Hyrule and helped rebuild several major structures here, you should feel proud of everything that you've accomplished."

"I think that I'm ready to head back now, I'm starting to worry about things are faring back on Angara." Felix said.

"No need to, I've been having my people rebuild over there at the same time we've been helping over here, the same can be said about the ships back in my own home world." Shakara said.

"I am starting to feel homesick…" Mia said, wiping the dust off of her dress.

The same, battered old gunship which had carried Tanis and his friends to Hyrule for the first time slowly descended from the sky. It was still partially melted in one spot from where lasers had hit it, and it landed gently and opened its doors to them. Before they could step inside, Kalana and Ruru came rushing up from behind. Tanis wondered just where they had come from.

"Now don't tell me that you guys were about to leave without saying goodbye!" Kalana said almost as an admonishment.

Shakara pointed at Tanis and tried to look innocent. "It was his idea!" she said.

Kalana half smiled and half frowned. "Come on, why don't you guys stay just a little bit longer, at least until we've dedicated the new Spirit Temple! You did go to a lot of trouble to finish building it."

Felix shook his head. "I'm afraid we can't really afford to stay here any longer. We've been away from our home for a very, very long time and its time we return there once again. Even with Shakara sending her people to aid, that doesn't change the fact that our families could still be alive out there, and we need to go and find them." He said.

"I understand." Kalana said sadly. "It was great to get to know you."

"Hey, don't think that this goodbye is permanent or anything!" Jenna said. "Sure there are things we need to do in Weyard, but that doesn't mean we won't meet again! In fact, I think that we should get together again to have another party just as soon as we're sure we've resolved all our matters back at home!"

Kalana smiled. "I think that would be a wonderful idea."

The group then climbed into the gunship, and Tanis stood in the door, regarding Kalana. "We'll be back, good luck."

**Conclusion II**  
A

"My life has changed quite a lot since this all started." Isaac said.

Tanis listened to Isaac intently as his food cooled on his plate. Shakara and Ashley sat to his left eating greedily, but still listening. Isaac, Felix, Jenna and Garet were sitting on the opposite side of the Table, while Mia, Ivan, and Sheba were on couches nearby. It was a familiar scenario, the group was eating dinner around the main table of the Madran Inn just as the rest of the city was going to bed. The rest of the party had already gone to bed, it had been a rough day sailing through a rather nasty thunderstorm.

"From the time the Triforce of Power first came to me, all the way up to the day our time overthrew Ares, I've seen and done quite a lot. I'm certainly not proud of much of what I've done, but I know that I've definitely learned a lot from it all." Isaac continued.

"I'm still extremely happy to have you back and back to normal!" Jenna said, smiling happily.

"Yeah, you guys thought I was dead after that battle with Ares, didn't you?" Isaac said. He grinned as if to say 'it takes more than that to kill me!'

"I've battled far worse than Ares with you guys. Remember Deadbeard?"

"Do I?" Mia exclaimed.

The group spent hours talking in this manner, sharing their experiences and harrowing tales of battles past. Any ordinary passers-by wouldn't have believed two-thirds of what was said, but the grizzled Innkeep sitting watch at the counter knew Jenna and her group. He had lodged them many times before and listened in, seen their battle scars, and taken money from them that couldn't have been earned any other way. He knew knew how much that his little Inn and all of Weyard owed to them, but they were still ordinary folk deep down inside with no need for the limelight, and he respected that. He'd keep on humbly accepting their money and providing them with a quiet place to rest as long as they stayed in Madra.

Into the wee hours of the morning the conversation began to die down, and Tanis decided to get down to business. "Well, I'm sorry we couldn't help you find your families, it was wonderful seeing the sights of Weyard with you. The company we've had during the trip was wonderful and the landscape breathtaking, but I'm sad to say that it's about time that Shakara and I return to our own home soon. Out of the three worlds Ares conquered, ours was the most devastated and Weyard the least."

"How soon will you depart?" Jenna asked, a twinge of sadness welling up in her.

"We should probably leave tomorrow, the humans back at home, though safe from starvation thanks to my people, will probably need direction and guidance." Shakara said.

"Will your people be alright here after we leave?" Tanis asked.

"Don't worry, the people of Weyard weren't exactly government-dependant before Ares came. Living without any form of empire to watch over us won't be a problem." Felix said.

"If only it could be that easy back home." Tanis said woefully.

"What's going to happen to your group after we're gone?" Ashley asked.

"Well, most of us come from the same area, so we'll probably stay together. Isaac, Jenna, Garet, Kraden and I are from the same town in fact, so we're definitely going to stay together. Mia, Sheba and Ivan will probably all leave, but I don't know about Piers. He doesn't have a home to go back to after his banishment from Lemuria." Felix said.

"He's like us in a way. After Vale was destroyed, our families had to move to Vault. Now that we've been gone for song long and Ares has destroyed that town, we're not sure if we'll ever have a home to go back to again, and our families might be gone forever.

"I hope they managed to get away and hide somewhere…" Jenna said sadly.

"If they did find a place to hide, it sure is a good one to elude is for all these weeks! Ares can't have found them." Isaac said reassuringly.

* * *

B 

The next morning, all nine of Isaac's party turned out to say goodbye to Tanis, Ashley and Shakara. That same gunship flew down once again, and Tanis felt a sad feeling of deja-vu.

I'll say the same thing we said to Kalana back in Hyrule, don't think that this will be the last time we see each other. We'll come by to visit many times in the future, and there's still that party to look forward to! It may not be for a good while, but I promise you we'll do it." Tanis said.

Tanis turned toward the gunship to depart, but Felix spoke and interrupted.

"Wait! Before you go, I want to give something to you.."

Felix fiddled with his equipment for a moment before presenting Tanis with his sword.

"This is the Sol Blade. Its burning power will aid you in any future battles you may have to fight. It will summon the power of the sun should you ever face great peril."

Piers approached Shakara with his sword as well. "I have a gift as well. The Excalibur Sword has been my protector and ally ever since I unearthed it while traveling with Isaac's group. Now I hope it will give these same gifts to you. It will summon the power of legends when your life is in danger."

Then Jenna stepped toward Ashley, holding her sword out as well. "My gift to you is the Masamune Sword. I have grown unworthy to hold it over my years of idleness, and now I believe I've found someone who is worthy of its power. You have the same passionate, fiery soul that I have, and I'm sure you can bring this sword to even greater heights of glory." Jenna said.

"But, how can we take your weapons? These gifts are much too lavish for me." Tanis said.

"Hey now! If you let the Hylians build your visage into a stained glass window, then surely you can take a few swords!" Jenna said, grinning at Tanis.

Tanis sighed, knowing he needed to let himself be rewarded.

"I don't even know how to use a blade properly though!" Ashley said.

"I can teach you." Shakara suddenly said, strapping the Excalibur to her back. "I've got them all over my body you know!"

"Well, I guess I'll take it then. But you'd better know that we'll be back with even greater gifts for you next time!" Tanis said, suddenly smiling mischievously.

"Oh, you wouldn't!" Isaac laughed.

"You'll see, we'll put your swords to shame!" Tanis said, now figuring out what he would do every time somebody got him a gift. He laughed merrily as Ashley and Shakara climbed into the gunship behind him.

"Come on you maniac!" Ashley said jokingly, and grabbed Tanis' shoulder to pull him inside.

"See you again!" Tanis said, and the door to the gunship closed as it lifted off of the ground.

As the gunship slowly disappeared into the sky, Isaac turned to face his party. "Well everyone, it looks like this could be it for our little adventuring party. We've finished saving Weyard again, and now all that's left is to go home. Felix, Jenna, Garet, Kraden and I are going to Angara to search for our families, but we'll give anyone a ride home who doesn't want to join us."

Piers walked up to Isaac and patted him on the back. "I might as well stay with you Isaac. Everyone knows that my banishment from Lemuria is permanent, so there's nowhere else for me to go. I see no reason to leave this party, especially since I have found so many friends here in it."

Isaac had expected Piers to stick with them, but he was surprised when everyone else gathered around in support as well.

"I'm with you, Isaac." Ivan said.

"As am I." Mia added.

"Me too." Sheba said.

Isaac was nearly overcome by the warmth of his friends, and he grabbed their hands and smiled broadly.

Jenna interrupted Isaac's heartwarming moment by tapping him on the shoulder. He turned to see her gesturing toward their winged Lemurian ship with one of her characteristic wry smiles.

"Well, if we've got everyone in order, what are we waiting for?"

Isaac returned Jenna's smile. "Alrighty then, let's go."

**Conclusion III**  
A 

"There it is, hurry!" Ashley said, pointing at a scarred hole in the Earth on the gunship's view screen.

Tanis steered them down towards the ground at breakneck speed, and when they approached the hole, they saw it was big enough to fly the gunship through with many feet of extra clearance. In the charred Earth around it were the silent, blackened remains of what used to be a small town. Tanis sensed nobody alive in the wreckage of the town, so he took them down into the hole and shadow filled the screen. They soon emerged into a large, smoke-filled cave below, and hundreds of small lights and fires twinkled on the screen.

"Come on, hurry up and land!" Ashley said, a hint of terror in their voice.

As they neared the cave floor, more wreckage was barely visible in the darkness. Great grey buildings lay in smoking pieces on the ground, and charred bodies laid here and there across the scarred ground. Ashley covered her eyes and stifled a short sob when she saw the extent of the destruction, and Tanis turned deathly pale. Everywhere he saw evidence of Ares' doing, the bodies of humans and acolytes were scattered alike on the stone floor, all nearly burned beyond recognition. The smell of scorched flesh began to seep through the gunship's air rotation system, and Shakara held a paw up to her mouth in disgust.

"Can you sense anyone alive?" Ashley asked quietly.

"I'm searching…" Tanis said, and flew them slowly over the scarred landscape.

More and more destruction awaited them as they slowly surveyed what had been the rebels' city, and Tanis couldn't sense a single survivor no matter how hard he tried. He was about to give up the search when he saw a small, undamaged sector of the city flash by quickly on the screen. He turned and flew over to it, and turned on the floodlights on the gunship's nose. There was a large concrete barrier and many trenches built hastily around the last undamaged part of the city, as if the humans had taken up one last stand there. He didn't see or feel any signs of life, but kept on shining the floodlights over the region, knowing something was amiss. He finally caught sight of movement with the lights, someone had ducked for cover inside what appeared to be an apartment building. All at once several laser beams fired out of the windows of the building, and the gunship's shields sizzled and drained rapidly.

"Wait, don't shoot!" Tanis cried psychically, but they still kept firing.

Tanis flew them higher to get out of the range of the laser fire and clicked on the loudspeaker and picked up the mic. He realized that the humans in this colony used psychic blocking helmets, so they probably couldn't hear his psychic voice. He spoke into the microphone. "It's Tanis and Shakara, don't fire on us!"

Tanis flew them back down toward the humans' stronghold, and this time they didn't fire. He touched down on the ground and Ashley leapt out of her seat and opened the door in an eye blink. Shakara unbuckled herself and followed, though at a more leisurely pace, and Tanis followed her after shutting down the gunship's engines.

Outside of the gunship the smell of death was much, much heavier on the air. Waves of nausea nearly caused Tanis to fall forward and vomit, he had never smelled anything more putrid. The human rebels approached them quickly, and the leader pulled off her helmet first. It was the dark skinned woman on the council which had rebuked Shakara's plan.

"How nice of you to come back, just in time to see how badly we've been defeated!" The council woman said.

Behind her another man removed his helmet, revealing John, and stepped up behind her. He grabbed her by the shoulders, twisted her around forcefully, and slapped her across the cheek. The other human soldiers behind them suddenly gasped in shock.

"How can you talk like that to those who stopped Ares before he could finish us off? These three saved our lives!" John said angrily.

Tanis was silent in shock, neither he nor Shakara or Ashley had said a word and they had already caused a fight among the humans.

"How dare you strike a council member! Men, arrest him!" the dark skinned woman said.

"I'm sorry Ms. Sasha, but your authority is no good here anymore." Another of the human soldiers said, approaching the council leader with a pair of cuffs. "We've co-operated with you up until now because you're in control of the food locker. But now that the Mewtwo rebels have returned just as Major Morrison predicted, we will no longer tolerate your absurdly conservative rule."

A deadly look suddenly played across Shakara's face. "So, are you saying that this woman is the one who is responsible for starving your colony?" she asked.

"Oh yes. Ms. Sasha knew from the start that we had enough food to feed our people, but she always kept it locked away, saying that we needed to save it in case of an emergency." John spat. "Anyone of us could have stopped her, but we never had the courage to do it. She ruled the council with an iron fist. She even intimidated the General, may he rest in peace."

Tanis looked down at the ground in silence, in respect for the late General. But Shakara went right up to Ms. Sasha and looked her in the face.

"Your eyes are just like my father's." She said.

Sasha's face darkened several shades of rage, and she would have taken a swing at Shakara if she hadn't been cuffed.

"I would kill you from utter contempt, but I think that it would be much more suiting to give you over to the people that you starved for so many years." Shakara said, savoring every word.

"Take her away, we'll deal with her later!" John said to the soldier who had cuffed Sasha.

As the irate tyrant was lead away at gunpoint, Ashley finally ran up and gave John a crushing hug. "I'm so glad you're alive!" She said gleefully.

John smiled as she let go, and regarded Tanis and Shakara. "You stopped Ares just in time to save the last few of us." He said. "We fought them ferociously for hours, block by block through the city streets, and never once let them get close to where we had hidden the psionic blockers. It was nothing but a vicious gunfight without their powers interfering, but they still outnumbered us and droves us back continuously. By the time we were pushed back to this last fortified sector of the city, the Acolytes all collapsed unconscious as if they had been struck by hammers from the heavens. We took the chance to kill as many of them as we could before they awoke and resumed the attack, and not to long later started to transform. They all just turned black and got these terrifying demon horns on their heads, and began attacking even more ferociously than before. We shored up this city block with the walls and trenches and kept fighting until it looked like they were about to win, when they suddenly just turned around, went back to their ships and left." John said.

Shakara smiled and tapped her head. "I control them now, I called them off the moment I gained control." She said.

John smiled. "Though it is sad that most of the city has been destroyed, I'm glad you managed to stop them just in time to save the last few of us.

A thought struck Ashley and she broke out in cold sweat. "What about the Pokemon Sanctuary? Did it survive?" She asked frantically. "I left my Pokemon in there in our rush to escape?"

John turned several shades paler and frowned sorrowfully. "No, I'm sorry. Ms. Sasha didn't consider it a tactically vital building to defend, and it didn't survive the attack."

Ashley blinked a few times, and then hunger her head. "I understand." She said quietly. She began to walk slowly towards the gunship.

"Where are you going?" John asked.

"I'm going to find their bodies so I can give them a proper burial." Ashley said.

Tanis frowned and turned away from John, knowing that Ashley needed him to fly her over to the ruins. John shrugged sadly and turned to congratulate his troops and tell them that victory had indeed arrived.

Ashley found very little left of the old Pokemon Sanctuary. The glass walls of the greenhouse had simply vanished, and the once lush green ground was now blackened and pockmarked by laser impacts. Carbonized Pokemon corpses littered the ground, but Ashley knew that none of them were hers. All she could find were the few average common types that had lived there before, there was no trace of her team anywhere in sight. She wondered if they had been hauled off by the Acolytes and killed elsewhere, or if they had tried to flee and ended up dead in a different part of the city. It was a further blow to Ashley. The death of all six of her team was terrible enough for her, but to not even be able to see them buried properly was like the icing on a terrible, terrible cake. She fell to her knees and wept on the scorched earth, which was still warm from the laser strikes it had endured.

"I'm so sorry I left you." She cried incoherently. "It's all my fault. I betrayed all of you as a trainer. I'm a failure."

Tanis stood a few feet away, trying to decide if it would have been better to let her have a needed time alone or to go over and comfort her. He felt stupid and worthless in his inability to help her.

"I'll miss you all so much…Megawatt's tenacity, Midnight's pranks…" Ashley cried.

Ashley felt a sharp poke on her back, and she jumped up in surprise. When she turned around to see that Midnight had teleported behind her again, she suddenly grabbed it up into her arms and gave it the same noogies she always used to.

"You little asshole." She said, now crying for joy. "You know I hate it when you do that."

* * *

B

"There's Purity Canyon, let's land now." Ashley said, and Tanis nodded and put them into a leisurely descent.

Megawatt gave Ashley another annoying little zap to her ears again, and she smiled and ruffled its fur. "You're still crazy even in the face of all this. I wish I was as strong as you. I wouldn't be able to play around like that if my best friends had died."

The gunship touched down next to the shores of Purity Lake, and Ashley sighed solemnly as Tanis and Shakara unbuckled themselves from their seats. She returned to her pall of gloom as Tanis lifted the coffins out of the back of the troop compartment and carried them out of the door of the Gunship. She followed them out into the clear moonlight and found a suitable burial spot where the sands of the beach met with the grasses of the inlands. Since the Pokemon Tower had been destroyed by Ares during his rule, this place was good enough as any other for a Pokemon burial. Tanis lifted six feet of dirt out of the ground with his mind and placed the three coffins inside.

"Goodbye Ifrit, Mach 5, Moonshine. Though I will miss you for many years to come, I am glad that you all died nobly to save the lives of the others. If it weren't for all your sacrifices, Megawatt, Shiannah and Midnight would not have been able to escape to the caverns around the city. Yours were deaths beyond what I could ever have hoped for, and I know that you did more than your share to fight alongside the human rebels against the Acolytes."

Ashley took a handful of dirt and tossed it on top of Ifrit's coffin first.

"Ifrit, you were the strongest of my team, the most independent, and the most loving, even though you didn't show it that much. Words cannot describe how proud of you I am."

Ashley took another handful of dirt and threw it on top of Mach 5's coffin.

"Mach 5, you were the smartest and most dutiful member of the team. Your wisdom and responsibility helped make you into one of the best fighters and companions that the Pokemon League ever saw. In the end, I'm sure that acting as decoys for Megawatt and Shiannah's sakes was your idea, and I am in awe of your nobility."

Ashley took one final handful of dirt and threw it upon Moonshine's coffin.

"Moonshine, you were the most affectionate and motherly of the team. You were there to act as a surrogate mom for Megawatt and Shiannah when I first found them as a pair of baby Eevees, and I'm sure that even now you're still watching over them from somewhere. Life without your help and guidance will be difficult, but I will continue on."

Ashley bowed her head in silence for several moments of silence to respect her fallen companions, and Tanis, Shakara, Megawatt, Shiannah, and even Midnight followed her example.

"Ashes to ashes…dust to dust." Tanis said quietly, and then lifted the dirt again and placed it back into the hole solemnly. Ashley wept silently as he slowly flattened out the dirt and placed headstones on top of the graves.

When their task was completed, Tanis walked over to Ashley and put his hand on her shoulder. He let her cry for a few more moments until she turned to look up into his eyes.

"Are you ready for the cheerful part of our trip here?" Tanis asked, smiling supportively.

Ashley's face lit up dramatically. "Don't you know it! Let's do it!" She said.

Tanis nodded and stepped back away from her. He formed an air bubble around himself and took off into the air, then dove straight into purity lake.

"What's going on?" Shakara asked confusedly.

"Wait!" Ashley said, holding a finger to her lips and gesturing for Shakara to stand still.

The ripples on the water's surface calmed down and disappeared as time passed after Tanis' dive, and Ashley stood there eagerly, wringing her hands in anticipation. Several more minutes passed, almost enough to make Ashley start to worry, but then the surface of the water bulged and spewed forth Tanis, who was carrying three metallic pods with him. He let his air bubble fade and set the pods onto the ground with utmost care.

"I'm sorry it took me so long, the water was murky and hard to see through, and these guys were hard to sense because of the stasis." Tanis said, wiping the dirt and plant material off of the pods. Ashley ran over and started helping him.

"I don't get it, what stasis?" Shakara asked.

Tanis and Ashley simply ignored her, they kept of cleaning off the surface of the pods until Ashley cried out, "Found it!"

Ashley pressed a few buttons that had been covered with aquatic ooze, and mechanisms on the back of the pod suddenly hissed and spewed forth jets of gas. The whole thing chugged for a few moments, and then the lid came loose with a pronounced click. Ashley threw the lid open carelessly, and Shakara walked around to see who or what was inside. She saw a middle aged man with spiky black hair and a Pokemon League hat lying inside the tube, his skin was slightly blue from the stasis and his eyes were starting to flicker open. Ashley waved her hands in front of his face a few times and snapped her fingers next to his ears.

"Daaad…come on dad, rise and shine! Time to wakey wakey!" Ashley said, now smiling again for the first time since she had discovered the deaths of her Pokemon.

"Uhhn…wha-happen?" Ashley's father said groggily, raising his arms to rub his eyes. "Ashley?"

"It's not a Saturday Dad, you're not supposed to be sleeping in!" Ashley said happily, and then embraced her father.

"I don't wanna go to work…" Ash moaned, but he returned her hug nonetheless. "At least I can count on you to keep me punctual Ashley."

**Epilogue**

A black haired woman, appearing in her thirties, swiftly walked down a forested pathway, leading a procession of her relatives behind her. Her once scraggly and unkempt black hair was now pristine, and it reached down past her knees nearly to her ankles. Behind her followed a little girl, her daughter of 6 years, her parents, who were now grey and wrinkled but still as lively and boisterous as ever, her black haired brother, and her husband, who had commanding green eyes and short brown hair.

"Come on now guys, we're not too far now." The woman said as she forged ahead along the dusty path.

"You said that nearly forty minutes ago Ashley. You know I'm not the young Pokemon Master I used to be." The old man said, grasping his back as cramps began to twitch there.

"Hee hee, Mommy's getting scolded by grandpa!" the child said, greatly amused by the spectacle.

"Yeah, do you wanna be next in line?" Ashley asked, ruffling her daughter's hair, which only made her giggle even louder.

A big wet splat hit Ashley squarely on her head, and she looked up through the thick canopy to see that the clouds overhead were beginning to darken.

"Great, now it's starting to rain! I wore my best cloths at your request for this occasion Ashley, and now it's starting to rain! That's just wonderful." Ash muttered.

"Oh hush up you old cook! You oughta love the rain after living with someone who used to train water Pokemon for so many years!" Misty said, and pulled on his ear sharply.

The little girl began outright laughing now, she loved spending time with her grandparents because they were always so silly. Her dad patted her on the shoulder gently to stop her.

"Come now Asha, it isn't polite to laugh at Grandma and Grandpa." The brown haired father said gently.

"But grandpa says he loves it when I laugh. He says he thinks I have a great laugh!" Asha said innocently.

"Oh let her have her fun John, it's not like they mind. They're too busy squabbling to even notice!" Ashley said, smiling over at her eccentric parents.

"It's not the water I mind, it's the fact that these expensive clothes are gonna get ruined! We're on a fixed income now and I can't afford to buy a new set!" Ash groaned.

"Yeah well, I still have my family's money you know. I had to use part of it to pay for that bike you broke, so it won't be an issue to use more of it to buy you new clothes." Misty said.

Asha was set into another fit of laughing, and Ashley couldn't help but chuckle under her breath. Every time Misty brought up the subject of that old bike Ash turned the brightest red of frustration because Misty always successfully trumped his arguments with it.

Ashley's laughter was interrupted as they turned around a corner in the path, her foot sank into a soft part of the ground, causing her to tumble forward and land face-first in a huge mud pit.

"Oh great, now look what's happened!" Ash said as John scrabbled to pull Ashley up out of the mud. "I bet her clothes are even more expensive!"

"Oh will you forget about the clothes already?" Misty said, and pulled Ash's ear again. Asha laughed even harder this time.

"Are you alright?" John asked as he helped his wife up out of the mud.

Ashley spat a few times and wiped the mud away from her eyes. "I'm fine but…my dad has a point you know. And I had just cleaned my hair too."

"Ah, you see!" Ash said, and pulled Misty's hand off of his ear.

"Oh you can always harp on things like this whenever you're right, but whenever I mention the bike you suddenly go quiet." Misty scolded. Asha was practically rolling on the ground laughing.

Ashley paused for a moment and looked at the mud pit she had fallen into, and something clicked in her mind. "Waitaminute…this place looks familiar."

The entire family paused from what they were doing and watched as Ashley stood there and thought.

"That's it!" Ashley said, and then turned toward the foliage on the left side of the trail. "Come on guys, we're almost there! Follow me!" She said, and then pushed her way into the brush.

"What is she up to now?" Ash wondered aloud, and reluctantly followed her into the trees. The rest of the troop followed behind.

"Just where are you leading us now?" Ash inquired loudly as they all shoved their way through the dense greenery.

"Don't worry, we're still on course! No need to worry!" Ashley replied.

"Well, seeing as we've strayed from the beaten path…" Ash said.

They continued pushing and shoving past the thick branches and brambles for several more minutes with Ashley tentatively leading the way. She could barely even see any traces of the old side-path that she had followed so many years ago, it had been almost completely reclaimed by the forest since the last time she traversed it. But she managed to keep on it right up until the point where the forest gave way and opened up to the cliff face where the old cave used to be. Ashley felt suddenly confused and worried when she saw that the cave was no longer there, it had been closed up with solid rock in a shape that suggested that molten lava had poured out of the cave and then turned to stone long ago. She then saw that near the sealed entrance of the cave a small placard had been set upon a pillar of marble.

"Oh yes, this looks exactly like your friend's place." Ash said sarcastically, and this time Misty slapped him on the back of his head. Asha laughed from her daddy's arms, since had had carried her through the dense thicket.

"In dedication to Mewtwo. Father, Mentor, Hero." Ashley read aloud from the placard.

"Hold on, what?" Ash suddenly said and rushed up to look at the small monument.

The marble pillar was a stoic mix of deep grays and blacks, and the metal that the inscription had been stamped on was pure gold with lamination to prevent the elements from corroding it. Set in the gold, just above the inscription and underneath the laminate was a glimmering purple gemstone, Mewtwo's Amethyst. Ash stared at it alongside of Ashley for many minutes in awe and wonderment.

"He was a hero, you know." Ash said quietly. "I know, because I met him myself."

"Who's Mewtwo?" Asha suddenly asked.

Ashley turned around and smiled at her daughter. "He was the daddy of a good friend of mine." She said respectfully.

They all stood there silent for a moment, before Ash broke in and asked, "What now?"

"Well, the invitation told me to 'Come through the forest, just the same way as you did before.'" Ashley said, pulling out the piece of paper she had gotten in her mail box. "There's nothing else written on it, not a map or any other kind of hint."

"Well, by process of elimination, maybe we should go that way." John said, pointing to their left. The direction in which he had pointed was a clear path between the cliff face and the trees, and was the only option available since the trees came right up against the cliff face to their right. Thusly it was the only logical path in front of them.

"Makes sense I guess. Let's go." Ashley said, and the troop moved on.

The path between the trees and the cliff face had a slight incline, so that when everyone walked on it, it gave them slight aches in their feet. It was another ten minutes of walking before the trees finally opened up, revealing a sight that made Ashley gape in surprise. Just tucked away in the thickets stood a huge stone and steel house, roughly three stories high and surrounded by numerous other buildings. Upon further inspection one could see that at least three of these buildings were massive greenhouses, and one other some kind of machine hut. The architecture of the house was unlike anything she had ever seen, it was made of solid stone and metal but had luxurious curved forms and numerous turrets and large windows.

"Wow, this place is cool!" Asha marveled.

"Well, this has to be it! Let's go!" Ashley said, grinning in eager anticipation. They all walked toward the house.

The front door to the house opened just as soon as Ashley's troop began ascending the porch steps, and Ashley was greeted with the familiar sight of Tanis, who had hardly aged a day since they had last seen each other.

"It's great to see you again." Ashley said, giving Tanis his favorite crushing hug.

"My, look how much taller you've gotten!" Tanis exclaimed as he let go of her and stood back. "What's with the mud?"

Ashley grinned and blushed a little with embarrassment. "I had a little incident with a surprise mud pit on the way. I'm sorry if I track the mud in."

"Oh it's no problem let me fix it!" Tanis said, and psychically removed the mud from Ashley's body and clothes.

"Whoa, cool!" Asha yelled loudly, watching the mud disintegrate in mid air.

Ashley took that interruption as the signal to introduce the newest member of her family to Tanis.

"Tanis, this is my daughter, Asha. You've met my mom and dad, my brother Ashton, and John here."

"Hey there, are you going to be just as stubborn and unpredictable as your mom?" Tanis asked, smiling.

"You mean, you're my mom's friend Tanis? I didn't know you were a Pokemon! Your nose looks funny." Asha said, grabbing Tanis's nose and squeezing it in her fingers.

"Remember the personal space rule Asha!" Ashley scolded, but Tanis laid his hand on Ashley.

"Don't worry, I don't mind." He said, smiling.

Tanis turned to John. "Ashley picked a good man to marry." Tanis said, regarding the green-eyed Major. "I'm kinda sad you guys didn't invite me to the wedding!"

"Well you had to find such a secluded place to hide yourself away, it's not like we had time to come trawling out into the thickets back then when there was wedding planning to do!" Ashley said, and playfully slugged Tanis on the shoulder. "Now are you going to invite us into your home or what?"

Tanis blushed a bit for a moment. "Well you're the one who couldn't wait to get inside before starting introductions! He said and laughed.

Ashley was even more impressed by the interior of Tanis' abode. Marble, River Rock, and Oak paneling constituted the interior structure of the house, and the decoration was a veritable smorgasbord of artifacts from both Hyrule and Weyard. Though the décor had an aged feeling to it, there were still evidences of modern technology throughout, including one of the largest holo-TV screens Ashley had ever seen in the living room.

"Tanis, your place is fabulous! I didn't know you had an inclination towards interior design!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Well, Shakara gets most of the credit. She designs everything, and I'm the one who fetches the materials and builds it." Tanis said.

"You mean, she's living here with you?" Ashley asked.

"Of course, it's not like she wanted to live amongst humans. Hmm, I wonder where she went off to anyways, I did tell her that you all were on your way." Tanis said.

"Daaad!" a young voice cried, and Ashley felt herself twitch in surprise. The voice she had heard was a boy's, so it couldn't have been Asha's, but she didn't know of any other children here.

What almost looked like a small child version of Tanis came loping into the living room from a back hallway, a look of frustration on his face. He was different from Tanis in the fact that his fur color was a much more reddish shade of orange, and it grew long and spiky on his shoulders and tail, and grew on the tip of his horns. He came to a halt and an extremely timid and shy look played across his small face when he caught sight of Ashley and her family.

"Oh, Ashley, I should have told you, the introductions aren't over yet. This is one of my sons, his name is Cygnus." Tanis said, patting his son on the head. "He's only five and a half years old."

"Wow, that's the same age as my Asha!" Ashley said, and walked up to little Cygnus. "Boy you're a cute one, you look like you've got fire on your shoulders and tail!"

"Who's the scary human lady daddy?" Cygnus asked, trying to crawl out of Ashley's reach behind his dad's back.

"Why this is Ashley, the good old friend of mine that I always tell you stories about!" Tanis said and pushed Cygnus out from hiding.

"You mean, she's a human?" Cygnus said in amazement. "Her nose looks funny." He said, and grabbed Ashley's nose in his tiny paw.

Ashley laughed, half in sheer delight and half in amazement. "He sure is amazing!" Ashley said.

"That's not all, hold on a moment!" Tanis said. He looked up into the air silently for a moment, psychically beckoning someone.

In a few seconds three other children of Tanis' came running into the room.

"We're here dad, you can stop calling now!" One of them said in a frustrated tone.

Ashley nearly squealed in delight when she saw Tanis' other three sons, the cute factor was overwhelming her.

"Ashley, I want you to meet my three other sons, Nolus, Venius, and Opulous." Tanis said. "Sons, this is my old friend, Ashley."

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Opulous said, nodding to her. Ashley admired his deep blue fur, it had very small white spots in it, almost looking like twinkling white stars in a deep blue night sky.

"Wow, you're Ashley? Cool!" Nolus exclaimed, and ran up to Ashley to touch her pantlegs. He had dark green fur with even darker stripes in it all over his body. He had spiky patches in his fur just like his brother Cygnus'.

Venius was the only one who didn't greet Ashley in any way. He stood there, staring at her fearfully and holding onto his own tail like a security blanket. His fur was a shade slightly brighter than Tanis' almost yellowing, and his horns sloped backwards like spoilers.

Ashley laughed and squatted down on her knees to look the children in their faces, and they looked back in awe and appreciation. "What a delightful little team of kids you have here Tanis!" she said.

"Oh just wait, they're polite and cheerful now. Once they start playing their rowdy games of 'Swordfight', then you'll see how much of a handful they can be." Tanis said like a true father.

"Dad I'm hungry and tired, I wanna go out to the greenhouse and take a nap." Venius said, tugging on Tanis' leg.

"Aww, but don't you want to stay and meet Ashley's family." Tanis asked.

"I don't wanna, they're creepy! And I feel sick too! I wanna go to sleep!" Venius said.

"Alright, but if you see Shakara on your way, then tell her the guests have arrived!"

"Alright." Venius said, his voice low with irritation.

"I'm here." Shakara said, walking through the same hall from where the children had emerged.

"It's about time, they've been here for nearly ten minutes!" Tanis said.

Shakara nodded as if to say. 'Yeah, I know, you can stop the scolding already.'.

Behind Shakara marched yet another troop of children, these ones obviously hers. Shakara nodded to Ashley, feeling that no words were needed.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce me to the new additions?" Ashley asked.

"These are the twins, Tamista and Satoria, and this is Melicia." Shakara said.

Tamista and Satoria were identical twins, both the same color of fur as their mother except they had red stripes on their arms, legs, and tail, and their horns weren't curved back like their mother's. They didn't have any blades like their mother either. Melicia had her mother's curved horns and a single tail blade, but her fur was a brighter color, almost grey. She seemed to carry herself with a respectable air, despite her childish stature.

The twins bowed slightly and gave a sparse greeting, but Melicia ran over to join Tanis's sons in the curious inspection of the visitors. Not long after the intermingling had started, Tanis twitched and suddenly smiled with excitement.

"The Weyardians are here! I'll be right back!" Tanis said, rushing toward the door.

Within a few moments Isaac and his entire group had poured through the door, and numerous other introductions filled the air. Ashley and Jenna greeted each other with the secret handshake, and soon all the kids were running about the room underneath the adults' feet yelling and laughing.

"Sorry we're a bit late, the ship you sent to pick us up was stuck in a traffic jam at the Blue River." Felix said, shaking hand with Tanis.

"Well you're not the last one to arrive, so forget about it." Tanis said, patting him on the back.

Tanis perked up again. "Well at least the others weren't too far behind you!" He said, and ran towards the door.

Kalana, Ruru, Onta and Aquel were the final guests to arrive, and Tanis' humble abode was now becoming quite crowded. But despite the closed quarters and the sudden rise of temperature in the house, everyone was splendidly joyous and happy to see each other again. More introductions had to be made, and someone almost stepped on Asha by accident when she went chasing after Cygnus in a game of tag.

"Can I have your attention please everyone?" Tanis' psychic voice asked loudly, and the room fell quiet in a heartbeat. The impromptu tag game suddenly froze. "Thanks. Now I know that it's been way too long, almost fourteen years, but I've finally gotten off of my lazy rear to organize the party!"

Everyone let out a yell of approval, and Tanis had to ask them to be quiet again to continue. "Now as you may have noticed, it's kind of cramped in here, so I've arranged to have us all go out in the back yard, where there are drinks and enough food for at least twice as many people. So let's all head out there and have a blast!"

"Why don't you stay with Asha and the rest of the kids in here for awhile?" Ashley asked John as all the adults began to filter out of the room.

"No problem, I was just thinking that they needed someone to watch them in here." John said.

Ashley planted a small kiss on his forehead. "Thanks dear, you're wonderful."

Outside Ashley found that Tanis had set up a huge sound system on the patio, and there were numerous coolers full of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. There were foods and games brought in from Earth, Hyrule, and Weyard, and the guests soon divided up into various groups for chatting, eating and playing these games. Ashley found herself trying a taste of Hylian Rum and playing another game of Keese and Leevers with Kalana, Ruru, Aquel and Jenna.

"I don't know what it is you put in these drinks, Kalana, but I'm finding them to be quite amazing." Ashley said, laughing despite the fact that she was getting beaten horribly by the more experienced players.

Kalana laughed heartily. "All I know is that it was a poor choice for a drink for playing a game of mental agility!"

Back inside the house, Asha was fitting in perfectly with Tanis' sons and Shakara's daughters. John watched from the sidelines, letting them have their fun uninterrupted unless they did something unsafe. He marveled at how well behaved Tanis and Shakara had raised them to be, for the most part they were polite and careful about not becoming too rowdy. That only lasted until an idea hit Cygnus though, and he grinned with mischief.

"Hey guys, let's play swordfight!" He said excitedly.

John didn't protest, since he didn't know what that game entailed just yet.

"Aww, do we hafta?" Melicia whined. "I always lose!"

"Hey, you might stand a chance since there's a human playing now!" Nolus said, laughing and pointing at Asha.

"Oh yeah, well I'll kick your butt!" Asha said, stomping. "Just tell me how to play!"

"Can she even play at all, since she doesn't have powers?" Tamista asked, her voice almost a bit superior.

"Don't worry, I'll give her a sword and numbers, since I never play anyway." Opulous said, sitting in a chair and watching.

"Alright, here's how it works." Satoria said, walking over to Ashley.

"These glowing numbers that appear over your head, those are your health points. If they go down to zero, you lose. Every time someone hits you with their sword, you lose health points. You gotta try and hit them and bring their points down to zero so that you're the last one standing.

Asha looked up at the glowing numbers that had been psychically projected over her head. "Hey, hoe come I only get thrity when he gets fifty?" Asha protested, pointing to the hit points over Nolus' head.

"Because he's a dirty stinkin cheater!" Tamista said, and smacked Nolus over the side of his head. The numbers went back down to thirty and Nolus snickered.

A little glowing energy sword appeared in Asha's right hand, and she looked at it in wonderment. "Is this even safe?" she asked.

"Of course it is, daddy wouldn't let us play it if it weren't! You don't feel a thing when a swords hits you, your points just go down, like this." Cygnus said, and hit Tamista with his sword. Her number dropped from thirty to twenty-nine.

"Hey, you better reset that before we start!" Tamista protested.

"Yeah we will, you stupid!" Nolus said. The number went back up to thirty again.

"You got it all?" Cygnus asked.

"Yeah, now let's go so I can kick some butts!" Asha said excitedly.

The moment the game began things in the house quickly went into chaos. The kids ran around the room willy-nilly, and soon the carpets were all ruffled and out of place and a lamp was knocked over. John ran after them, trying to stop them, but he didn't make any progress whatsoever. Whenever he caught one of them, they teleported out of his hands and kept playing the game.

"Jeez, how does Tanis keep a hold on these kids?" John asked, now panting and sweating. He heard something shatter, and he ran into the hallway to find that Tamista had knocked down a glass Triforce sculpture that had been sitting on an end table.

"Oh great, what am I going to do about this?" John lamented.

The quiet and reserved Opulous came up behind John. "Not a problem." He said.

Opulous pointed his paw at the sculpture and the pieces slowly fused back together again until it looked just like it had before. He set it back onto the table again, grinning. "I've covered for them like this plenty of times." He said.

"Thanks brother!" Cygnus yelled, running past trying to escape Satoria's sword.

Back outside, the game of Keese and Leevers was going even worse for Ashley than before, and she was slowly becoming more and more tipsy as the game went on. Her hand of cards was getting saturated with Keese, and if she didn't find a way to dump them soon she would get disqualified and have to watch from the sidelines.

"You know…I had bats in my house's attic once, boy they smelled bad." Ashley mused, beginning to stutter.

"Well you're gonna have a whole nother batch. Enjoy!" Aqeul laughed, and played several more Keese onto Ashley's pile.

"Aww damn, I lose." She said, and dropped her hand.

"That's seven wins for me!" Aquel laughed. "And I'm not even from Hyrule."

"I'm content in my status as champion of five player Weyardian Chess." Jenna said, dropping her hand and revealing that she had been one card away from losing as well.

"We should play that next, I think the game of it that Felix started awhile back is over now." Ruru said, pointing to where Tanis was gripping his head in frustration.

They walked over and found that Felix had indeed just wrapped the game up beautifully, his forces had already captured Tanis, Isaac, and Mia's kings, and Onta had thrown in the towel.

"Wanna try your mind against the master again Felix?" Jenna said, and grinned when he saw a twinge of fear on Felix's face.

"Hold on guys, I'm just about to make an announcement, so don't start anything." Tanis said, standing up.

"Not a problem, I'm a bit soused for chess anyways." Ashley said, holding onto the ground firmly.

"Allright everybody, we're about to start the Holoball game, anyone interested in playing?" Tanis shouted.

Ashley's ears perked up. "Holoball? That's my favorite game ever! I didn't know you had a court here!"

Tanis grinned. "I've been teaching the boys to play, and they're getting quite good. Are you going to play?"

"Well, I don't think I'd do well with this rum dulling my reflexes." Ashley said, now slurring several words at once.

"Haha, no problem, I'll fix that." Tanis said, and waved his hand over Ashley's head. In an instant all the alcohol was cleared out of her system.

"You know, you're really handy." She said, grinning.

"Did I hear somebody say Holoball?" Cygnus called, opening the patio door.

"You're just in time!" Tanis replied.

If Ashley had been impressed with Tanis' handiwork before when she first arrived, then she was amazed now. He had built a full size concrete Holoball dome underground, nearby the greenhouses. By now everyone had filled into the audience seating sections, and those who were going to play had entered the court.

"Alright, since a couple of you haven't played before, I'll explain the rules. Basically, it's like a game of soccer, only in zero gravity and with a holographic ball instead of a solid one. Knock the ball into your opponent's goal to score, and guard your own goal. The thing that makes it tricky is that you can't actually affect the ball with your body, you have to use these pads." Tanis said, opening a locker.

He pulled out handfuls of little black Velcro straps that had little glass eyes on top. He strapped one onto his hand, pressed a button, and a little holographic shield formed in his palm.

"Only these pads can hit the ball, if the ball hits your arm or any other place where there isn't a pad, it'll pass right through you as if you were a ghost. You'll all wear these pads on your hands, feet, shins, and knees." Tanis said, and passed out the straps to everyone there. It looked like Ashley would be teamed up with Shakara against Tanis and Kalana, so it would be a two on two match.

"You be goalie, I'll go on the offense" Shakara's psychic voice whispered to her.

Ashley wanted to protest and argue, but she also didn't want to make a scene in front of her friends, so she rolled with it.

"Alright, I'm going to turn on the antigrav field, so brace your stomachs!" Tanis said, and pulled a switch next to the lockers. The contestants in the court slowly floated up into the air.

"Look, mommy's flying!" Asha's voice called from the seats, and Ashley grinned.

The holographic ball popped into view in the center of the court, and the game timer started. It was unusually small, only about an inch and a half in diameter, making it much more difficult to hit than a regulation sized ball. Ashley realized that Tanis was probably training his sons in a much harder difficulty so that they could develop their skills quicker.

The game proved to be incredibly one sided, even though Tanis had an inexperienced player on his team. He dominated Ashley and Shakara that round, scoring thirteen to four and outdoing them with every manner of sly tricks. Every time Kalana became disoriented and confused by the lack of gravity, he was there to catch the ball after it whizzed past her. The kids cheered from the sidelines for their parents, and John tried in futility to keep them quiet. He might as well have been trying to tell plants not to be green.

The second round Ashley got warmed up, she hadn't played the game in neary nine years and so was understandably rusty when compared to Tanis. But after ten minutes of playing, she managed to come back into her skills and even out the playing field. Since she had switched places with Shakara and gone on offense, their team caught up considerably until they were trailing 22 to 25.

The third and final round was the most exciting, because Shakara was now getting well warmed up, and Kalana had finally acclimated to the zero gravity. All four of them played furiously for the final ten minutes, and when the buzzer rang to end the game, Ashley's team prevailed 39 to 38. This time the children weren't the only ones who cheered, all of Ashley's family stood up and gave a victory cry.

"Can we do a kids game now dad, please?" Cygnus begged as Tanis turned off the antigrav and began removing the pads.

"Alright, but you'll have to pick somebody to be the ref for you since there's always a squabble when you play against your brothers!" Tanis said.

"Yes! Hey guys, come on!" Cygnus said, and ran over to gather his siblings.

Ashley wiped the sweat off of her face as she and the others left the court. "You still play a furious game of Holoball, Tanis." She said.

"I could say the same for you, that last goal was amazing! The projectors painted the ball with little holographic flames to show how fast the shot was." Tanis marveled. "I've only ever seen a shot that fast a few times before.

Ash climbed down from the seats and patted his daughter on the back. "Why didn't you tell me you were so good at that game?" He asked.

"Life's busy, you know. Come on, I need another drink!" Ashley said.

John ended up staying behind to be the referee for the children's game while everyone else went back out onto the patio to continue with the party. By now the sun was starting to set, and Tanis flipped on large white lights all around the yard to light it up. Ashley proceeded to drink more Hylian Rum again, and went to play a more luck-based game this time. She still ended up losing again, but she held onto her victory in the Holoball game as real win that night.

By the time the wee hours of the morning rolled around again, everyone was either severely drunk or very sleepy, so Tanis decided to let the party come to a close. Felix and his group were first to leave, since they had to be leaving on another trip in Weyard by the next day. He wished them luck as they climbed into the dropship that Shakara called for them, and then turned to see that Kalana and the others were ready to leave as well. Apparently there was some kind of Royal Banquet being held in Dantun, and all of them needed to attend. Aquel extended an invitation to Tanis, but he politely declined, seeing as how he disliked political events. He told Kalana that he would love to come to another private party at her Palace though, should she host one, and invited her to come to his house again in the future. Soon the house was much quieter without as many guests present. Then the time came that Ashley had to leave as well, she had her own responsibilities as well.

"We need to go soon Ashley, your father needs his medicine and Asha has school tomorrow." John said softly. "She's already half asleep now."

"Alright, you take her and my parents ahead, I'll catch up." Ashley said, and John nodded.

"It was nice to see you all again!" Misty said, and the family turned to leave.

Ashley watched them leave and then turned back to Tanis. She ruffled through her knapsack until her hands felt the smooth glass surface of the gift that she had brought for him.

"Tanis, I want you to have this." She said, pulling out what turned out to be a small square hand-mirror.

"Oh my, what's this?" Tanis asked, taking it from her carefully.

"It's an old family heirloom of mine, it was passed down from my grandmother to my mother, and my mother gave it to me last year. I want you to have it." Ashley said.

"Oh, now come on Ashley! Remember what I always say?"

"I know you never keep tabs for friends, but this has nothing to do with tabs. You've been a genuinely good friend to me for as long as I've known you, and I think that you more than deserve this."

"No, you know I can't accept something so valuable to your family!" Tanis protested.

"Now listen you! I'm the one who convinced you to let the Hylians build you into a stained glass window for god's sake, so the least you can do is take a smaller little piece of glass!" Ashley said. "Besides, it's my choice whether or not I give it away and who I give it to, and I've chosen to give it to you! You can at least respect my wish can't you?"

"Oh alright, but only if you take a gift from me!" Tanis said.

"Hit me with it!" Ashley said, glad she had convinced him.

Tanis concentrated for a moment to teleport the object he desired to himself, and a little golden pendant on a silver chain appeared in his hands. It was a ring of gold with a symbol inside it that resembled Mewtwo's head.

"Shakara made this for me, she molded the gold and silver herself. And I'll be damned if you don't take it!" Tanis said, smiling mischeviously at Ashley.

Ashley took it without a fuss and put the chain around her neck. "Thanks Tanis, it's wonderful."

They stood there silently for a moment, neither having words to say.

"So, are we going to see each other again soon?" Tanis asked tentatively.

"Oh, of course you silly Pokemon! The only reason I haven't been to visit before is because you've found such a ridiculously good place to hide yourself away! Now that I know where you live, you won't be able to beat me away with a baseball bat!" Ashley said.

"Now that's more like it!" Tanis said jovially.

Ashley walked into the doorframe and turned around to look at him one more time. "How about next week?" she asked.

"I would love it." Tanis said.

Ashley gave him a wave and then ran off along the trail to catch up with the rest of her family, and Tanis watched her until she turned the corner around the trees and passed out of view, and was about to close the door when he saw her running back to tell him something.

"I just about forgot to tell you Tanis…" Ashley panted, "Be careful with that mirror. It's got a family history of being haunted!"

Tanis chuckled. "Alright alright, whatever you say. Now get going before your father gets stuck in those thickets!" he said.

Ashley laughed, and then turned and left once more. Tanis closed the door and walked over to the living room. He approached the mantle above the fireplace where the Sol Blade had been set in a case, and he put Ashley's mirror in a prominent spot right next to it.

"You have really great friends, Dad." Opulous said suddenly behind Tanis.

Tanis jumped a little. "Oh jeez, don't sneak up on my like that you little scamp!" he said.

Shakara walked around the corner, wiping dirt and dust off of her paws. "I've finished cleaning up the back yard."

"Already? That was fast!" Tanis exclaimed.

"Well it helps when you can carry all those lights at once with your mind!" Shakara reminded him.

Tanis sighed again, then looked out the window. "You know Shakara, sometimes I think we need to go out there and get more involved in the human world."

"Why would we do that? It's not like we'd fit in." Shakara said.

"Well, you never know. They're not all bad, and Ashley's more than enough proof of that then I ever would need."

**END**

A/N: As the sequel to Crossing of the Paths draws to a close, I find that despite how draining it was to both write on this and work on classwork, I still cannot stop myself. Some of my friends already know about this, but I have decided to keep writing on this series, and make one more installation before letting it come to a close. So if you're still with me now even after countless years of my writing and griping about reviews and schoolwork, then you're going to see me write one last large Fanfiction before retiring from fanfics altogether. This Fanfiction will be the sequel to Legacies, and it will be called "The Four Mirrors", so keep your sharp reading eyes on the look out for the first chapter of this final Fanfiction, and I'll keep my fingers limber and writing until then. See you then!


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